Imperium
by Alchemechanist
Summary: The bodies in the street left no doubt in his mind about whether or not he would do it. No one had ever survived what he would attempt, but the threat of a world's imminent demise was a strong one, leaving only one option. A terrible change was to come.
1. Chapter 1

**This... is not Enigma.**

**For those of you who don't know, when I ended Half the Perfect World I gave away the title for my next fic — Enigma, followed by a sequel called Legacy. Obviously, this is not either of those. Thing is, Enigma is a really hard fic to write. Legacy should be easier for me, but for now, I'm stuck, and I don't plan to publish any of it until I have completely finished the first part — and that means written AND edited, Kitsune Heart Basseri.**

**Oh, yeah, and that Artler fic I promised, for all of you who are curious? It's trash. I'm not publishing it.  
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**So for now, while I'm trawling through Enigma... here is the filler fic. I give you Imperium, edited by the wonderful Ru-Doragon. A note: this gives a new ending to Time Paradox and completely ignores the fact that The Atlantis Complex even exists. Just so you know.  
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Chapter One: The Beginning

To block out the circumstances that currently surrounded him, Artemis found himself focusing on how cold the shuttle was.

It wasn't that it was just cold on the mercury — though it was that as well — but the place was soulless. Unwelcoming gray metal made up the entire craft, the only color coming from various lights on the dashboard and screen, washing out the silent, stoic-faced pilot as they hummed along down E1, speeding toward Haven.

Hunching over in his seat, Artemis shivered against the seatbelts.

How he missed warmth. Everything in his life had been cold of late, ever since the fiasco with the lemur and the death of his mother. Her aura had once filled the house up, brightening his father's eyes and bringing life to the darkness of the antique halls. But her memorial service had come and gone, and he still stood knee-deep in the snow every day in front of her grave marker, wondering where things had gone wrong.

It was a rhetorical question, of course; he knew exactly where he had screwed up. It could have all been avoided had he only been more careful. He could be sitting with his mother in front of a fire back home, never once thinking of the stupid shuttle or of the imminent demise of the fairy People or the fact that the most powerful person on and under the planet wanted him dead.

Closing his eyes against the harshness of the shuttle's interior, he remembered soundlessly; a slip of the hand, the slight twisting of the step and he was on the ground as Opal collected her prize, the lemur unconscious in her arms, the cackle triumph evident on her face as she gleefully skipped over the cataleptic Butler on the floor and ran like a bat out of hell, cackling all the while. A golden opportunity had arisen and the pixie had seized it, an unknown, terrifying power surging through her limbs, destroying everything in a single, easy second. One moment, one tiny mistake on his part and then the mimic disease was too much for his mother's body to bear, her heart simply stopping as he held her hand and cried in humiliating silence…

Artemis's head was jostled with a gentle whiplash as the shuttle knocked against the loading dock beneath Haven, the doors opening with a pneumatic hiss. Not bothering to thank the pilot, he clambered out, reveling in the space and color of the shuttle port, glad to at least not be quivering from the cold anymore.

Just a few more minutes and he would fully understand the frantic call Foaly had given him not four hours prior.

The centaur had practically begged him to pitch into the effort to stop whatever was launching attacks on the People — Opal, he had thought, though there was no proof — and aid Foaly in his frenzied detective work. Needless to say, Artemis had taken it upon himself to give Butler five minutes' notice before heading off to Tara to take the offered shuttle down to Haven, leaving his anxious bodyguard behind.

Heading up in the elevator, Artemis thought he was prepared.

But in all Artemis had ever read or seen of war, he had never experienced anything remotely as terrible as Haven City that night.

Standing on the curb outside the shuttle port, guarded by two beefy LEP gnomes, he couldn't help staring at the operation across the street, where the body of a female pixie was being carried away from a still-smoking pile of rubble, the gaping hole in her chest obviously half-healed before her magic had run out. Two more bodies, presumably her partner and child followed, their eyes staring blankly toward the false sky high above them, reflecting the dim emergency lighting with a dull finality. Fear hung in the air like a heavy curtain, magnified by the shadows created by the emergency lights and the sirens echoing softly from some other side of the city.

Hardly able to draw breath, Artemis didn't notice the approaching LEP tech van until it pulled up right in front of him. He tore his gaze away from the grisly scene across the street as one of the gnomes pushed him toward it.

"You'll hitch a ride with these fellows," he grunted, sidling up to the driver's door. "Can't spare a vehicle just for you, human, so you'll have to make do."

The driver rolled down the window and looked Artemis over suspiciously, her beady eyes touched by a hint of alarm, her wings ruffling uncomfortably.

"This the human I'm taken with this lot, then?"

"Sorry, Tess," the other gnome said. "Kelp's orders. They need him to base."

Tess glanced around, her green skin washed out by the dashboard lights. "Fine. Make it quick."

Artemis winced at the gnomes simultaneously gripped his elbows and thrust him through the opening door to the back of the van. It slid shut behind him and the vehicle began to move before he could get his bearings, causing him to fall back into the wall as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

The van was filled with techies, all talking simultaneously on communicators and flipping through screens showing data and macabre pictures of the current destruction in Haven. No one took notice of him as he sat against the wall, near invisible in the low light of the read-outs, and the van rumbled on, bouncing on the potholed road.

The techies were obviously overworked, the evidence in the etched circles under their eyes and the pools of split sim-coffee over the desks and floor. As the van dipped into a particularly nasty hole, a cup tipped off the desk and landed wetly onto the floor, spraying Artemis's slacks with lukewarm liquid. The elf to whom the coffee had belonged to glared at the boy on the floor as if he had done him great personal wrong, but never once stopped typing.

The moment the van stopped, the door was opened roughly, the mechanism whining from the harsh treatment, and the cabin was flooded with the yellowish emergency lights. Artemis squinted, looking up into the face of Trouble Kelp until his eyes adjusted, and then took the offered hand to step out of the van.

"Evening, Artemis," the commander said cordially, nodding toward the graying building closest to them.

"After you, Commander."

Under normal circumstances, Artemis thought as Trouble led him through the entrance of the makeshift LEP headquarters — an old factory and office complex, it appeared — he would have slapped out some snide remark in response to the commander's sudden respect. But as he looked out over a room filled with officers working despite injury and exhaustion, any notion of sarcasm died instantly.

Holly was nowhere to be seen as he followed Trouble through the maze of skinny hallways and temporary cubicles, which sent a thrill of anxiety through him; Foaly had said nothing about the Major over the phone, and had dodged the question when Artemis had asked if she was alright. Doing his best to push it to the back of his mind, Artemis steeled himself into focus. No matter what he was feeling, personal relations were not the problem at hand. He had bigger things to deal with. Like the destruction of life on Earth.

Trouble turned one final corner and Artemis was met with absolute chaos.

Presently Foaly was in an improvised Ops Booth, the sim-plywood walls propped up by bricks salvaged from rubble, his focus completely on the temporary screens in front of him and the communicator he was snapping orders into. When Trouble rapped on the wall to get his attention, he jumped so violently that several tottering hard drives fell off of his desk, clattering onto the floor.

"D'Arvit, don't scare me like that!" he said, promptly hanging up on his techie and leaping out of his chair to pick up the hard drives. "Thanks the gods you're here, Artemis. I need a brain that isn't falling to pieces right now." He looked for a moment at the equipment in his hands, musing, before thrusting it carelessly into Trouble's arms and scuttling back over to his computers. "Sit. We need to talk."

Artemis sat carefully on a pile of empty crates, presumably for transport when the LEP would relocate again, and crossed his arms uncomfortably over his chest, saying nothing.

Foaly turned on his special chair, tail swishing around in distracted apprehension, picking up a half-eaten carrot from beside an enormous pile of documents and sticking it between his teeth. "So," he said around his food. "How much do you know?"

"No more than what you've told me. I assume that whatever happened to the city has been sudden?"

The centaur nodded gravely. "Very sudden. We didn't want to get you involved this time — Frond knows this is far more dangerous than anything you've ever dealt with while with us — so we waited a couple of days. We thought we could fight, or something… but you can't fight something that doesn't seem to exist."

Artemis blinked and then leaned forward, his brow furrowing as he steepled his fingers over his lips. "What do you mean, 'doesn't seem to exist?' Something has to have been causing the destruction I saw."

"That's just it," Foaly replied, his teeth fretfully gnashing on the carrot. "That's what scares me. Because it doesn't seem to be a physical something, Artemis. Not even wind. Buildings just explode without a cause, or crumble like they've been hit with a gale. Fires erupt. Holes open in the ground. Fairies lose their minds and attack each other." He kneaded his temples, frowning deeply. "These incidents are swift. And no one can figure out what the source of the destruction is. The only thing I can detect is a split second of a magic spark in the air before they happen."

"And you think it's Opal."

Foaly snorted. "Oh, I know it's Opal. Thing is, I have no proof. But look." He turned to his vid-screen, pulling up a data file. "See this? Read. It's all the animals I've discovered her taking and using to her whims. Most of them come from your recounting from her lab back in time, but I've found several on my own, and they frighten me. I've done a lot of research, and I've found out what each and every one has to offer her."

Artemis scanned the list, his eyes alighting on an animal almost at the bottom, a sinking feeling sucking his posture down until he was slouching in defeat.

_Superb Bird-of-Paradise: Long-Distance Telekinesis._

"She could be anywhere, then," he whispered. "Anywhere in the world."

"I know." Foaly sighed. "That's what worries me the most. We can't fight her because she's nowhere. And if we can't fight her, then she'll win."

Artemis sat up so quickly that Foaly whinnied a bit and took a step backwards, warily eyeing the hard expression on his face and the bitter fire in his eyes.

"No," Artemis said quietly, his voice like steel. "I will not allow that to happen."

"Don't get me wrong, Mud Boy, I sure as hell don't want it to happen either —"

Artemis snapped out of his angry mood almost as quickly as he had snapped into it. "Where's Holly?"

Foaly blinked, and then shifted his eyes. "Um, at her apartment, off work."

"Spare me the lies, Centaur," Artemis replied coldly. "Where is she?"

"Look, Artemis…" Foaly said, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding the boy's eyes.

"Foaly."

"I can't —Honestly, I'm not allowed to tell you."

"I don't care what your superiors told you. I want to know where she is and if she's alright."

"Can't you just —?"

"Tell me, Foaly!" Artemis shouted, standing up so fast that the pile of crates he had been sitting on toppled over with an immense clatter, making Foaly leap away in shock. There was a moment of stunned silence, Artemis's eyes blazing, his chest heaving, his fists clenched at his side.

And right as Foaly was opening his mouth to reluctantly tell the genius, Holly Short made her entrance with a stagger, landing face down on the concrete floor with a great crash and , a groan, and a terrible stillness, a pungent, dark liquid slowly seeping out from under her body.


	2. Chapter 2

**You'll have to forgive my delay in updating. There was a delay in beta-ing, and I got horrendously sick.**

**Also, the weird repeating/mistake thing going on in last chapter was a result of Microsoft being a dick. It's been fixed now.**

**EDIT: I uploaded the wrong, unedited version of this first, Ru-Doragon, so I actually DID use your notes. Here's the real one.**

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**Chapter 2**

"Oh, gods," Foaly sighed, clapping a hand over his heart. "Saved by the bell! Nice timing, Major." He wrinkled his nose. "Though I might have to air out the room."

Holly groaned once more and rolled over, an arm flung over her face, the sim-coffee coated the front of her suit, the cup crushed from the fall. "So _sorry_, Foaly," she said, her sarcasm a bit ruined by the fact that she was falling asleep on the floor. "Next time we're in the middle of the destruction of our race, I'll make sure to get my eight hours a night just to make you happy, how about that?"

"I'd appreciate it, thanks." Foaly bent over, hauling the exhausted elf up by her armpits. "How were… things?"

Holly rolled her neck, her eyes landing on Artemis as she stood. "We'll talk about it later."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Is that so, Major? Something you aren't telling me?"

"Sure thing, Mud Boy," she replied. "You got a problem with that?"

They stared each other down for a minute and then her gaze softened, a small smile that rang with a little sadness curving over her lips. She sighed a heavy sigh as she stepped forward and threaded her arms around his waist, pulling him into an awkward hug, the top of her head barely reaching his sternum.

"How are you?" Holly whispered.

"Fine," he replied cordially, to stiff to be friendly. "And you?"

"I've been better," she said, and left it at that, releasing him and turning back to Foaly. "I'll have the report to you by tomorrow morning. Noon at the latest."

Foaly raised an eyebrow. "Are you punching out?"

"I'm getting sent home. Things got a little messy on the field. I'm being ordered to go to sleep." She tossed her empty, crushed cup of sim-coffee into a nearby overflowing trash bin. "C'mon, Artemis. You're here on short notice, so you'll be crashing at my boarding house tonight."

He followed her out, weaving through the office space again. "Boarding house? I thought you owned an apartment."

"'Owned' being the key statement," Holly said tiredly. "It was destroyed the day before yesterday. I'm staying in the basement of this building, currently."

And it truly was the traditional definition of a basement. Despite the hundreds of years of technological difference the People had put between themselves and the human race, the basement of the temporary LEP headquarters was dim and damp, earthy-smelling air wafting up from the stairwell as Holly and Artemis made their way to her current living quarters. Artemis drew stares from the other inhabitants of the giant, low-ceilinged room; it almost seemed like half of the LEP was there, lying on bare mattresses and loitering in the spaces between them. Ducking his head to avoid hitting a dripping, water-covered pipe, Artemis looked subtly around the room, searching for familiar faces. He found none.

Holly seemed to pick a random mattress on the floor, though apparently she had known it was hers because she reached underneath and pulled out a digi-pad. "We're in tight quarters down here," she said, sitting down and tapping away on the screen. "Do you mind sharing a mattress with me?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow; the mattress was fairy-sized and made for one sleeper, with hardly enough room for him to sleep comfortably by himself, let alone with Holly. However, more and more fairies were stepping down the stairs and settling onto their own beds, slowly filling up the wide basement and leaving him little choice but to accept.

They sat for some time, Holly busy tapping away at her digi-pad as she wrote up her report, Artemis watching the constant stream of people that ebbed and flowed through the room. There was little talking, and what conversation there was seemed to consist mostly of dark, tired murmurs that Artemis couldn't make out. The room, despite the bodies packed into it, was chilly, and he shuddered a bit.

Out of the blue, Holly lifted her head, giving Artemis a curious look. "What time is it up where you live?" she asked. "Our schedules are switched, aren't they? So about… ten in the morning, maybe?"

"Perhaps," Artemis replied, drawing his knees to his chest to conserve body heat. "I left home at about seven. Three hours feels about right."

"It's almost ten at night here. Lights out is in a little more than half an hour," she said. "Are you going to have trouble sleeping?"

He looked away, avoiding her eyes by looking out over the toil of officers around the basement. His voice was quiet and calm, barely audible over the quiet din. "I always have trouble sleeping, Holly."

He heard her shift on the mattress, but she said nothing.

True to her words, the lights went out half an hour later, plunging the room into total darkness. Slowly the hours passed, and Artemis lay shivering, covered by thin sheets and hanging in a sort of stupor as the sounds of many sleeping people slowly became deeper and slower, an almost rhythmic tic throughout the room. The darkness was absolute, almost pressing in on him as he lay curled on the tiny mattress, his eyes open to the pitch-black void surrounding him. There were sounds; little sounds, wafting in from every direction; the shuffle of clothing and blankets, small coughs and snores, the steady flow of breath. His hands shook from where he had stuffed them under his arms in an attempt to ward off the chill of the place. He felt exposed, naked in an unfamiliar environment, surrounded by mystery and fear.

There was a shuffling near his head, followed by a gentle touch over his body as Holly laid another blanket on him, her hands lingering in his hair with an almost maternal caress.

The reminder of his mother made speech difficult, but he nonetheless whispered a quiet thanks into the darkness.

The fingers stroking his forehead froze. "Sorry," Holly murmured after a moment. "I didn't know you were awake."

"I don't mind," he said, feeling his cheeks color. "I have missed the luxury of touch."

She was quiet for a moment. Then, "What do you mean?"

He closed his eyes, though it made no difference, creating a fragile shield between himself and the quiet, waiting elf. "No one has touched me affectionately since before Mother's funeral." To his complete shame, he felt unwanted tears prick his eyes, and his voice was horrifyingly thick when he spoke again. "I suppose I simply never understood how much I need personal contact until it was taken from me without warning."

Her breathing stopped, plunging the two of them into silence as the first tear escaped, followed by a broken sob that, while muffled, managed to seep through his clenched teeth. She let him cry alone for a moment, and then her hand was hooking around his jaw, gently cupping his cheek until he allowed her to pull him into her arms.

"Arty, Arty, shh," she whispered. "But your mother died _months_ ago, almost half a year. Surely someone's hugged you, or held your hand…"

But the quiet sobs emanating from his bony frame and the grieved face buried in her neck were enough to contradict her words. Slowly rubbing his back, she rocked back and forth on a mattress made for one fairy, alone in a dark room filled with the homeless.

In his dream, Artemis saw his mother.

She stood, veiled in a graveyard, gazing blankly down at a shining new headstone, her face hidden by the ornate black lace cast over her features. He moved, excited, through the stone-marked land, stepping over the hidden bodies of the long deceased, wanting nothing more than to embrace her and hold her close. Joy thrumming through his body, he called her name.

But something was wrong. She was still, bent by grief and hunched over as he drew close, still calling for her.

She looked up as he stood beside her, anguish splayed over her face, the tears still coating her cheeks.

_Artemis Fowl II. En memoriam._

Her eyes locked onto his, infused with deep pain and longing that stabbed him through the heart.

"It could never be the other way around," she whispered. "I could never survive it. Take care of them for me, love."

When Artemis awoke, there were tears in his eyes.

Instantly, he curled into a fetal position, gritting his teeth and biting his tongue to stop the tears from spilling over. A terrible ache formed in his gut, almost acidic, a slow burn pulsing at his heart. The emotions coursing through his body were an alien force, taking control of him in ways that nothing else ever had before.

Not once before that night had he cried for his mother. Not once had he allowed himself to do so.

When his tears dried, he lay silently, staring blindly into the darkness of the basement, listening to the sound of sleeping life. He could feel the heat radiating from Holly, somewhere near his head, her prostrate form a sort of beacon connecting him to the harsh, beautiful reality of his own biological miracle. The complexity of evolutionary life never ceased to amaze him, though he sometimes would forget for a while…

There was no warning for when the lights came on, and he groaned in protest, flinging an arm over his eyes. When Holly came around a few minutes later he had perfectly composed himself, sitting up and flattening his sleep-ruffled hair. Yawning, she acted as though nothing had happened the night before, handing him a field ration bar for breakfast.

Not half an hour later they found themselves back in the temporary Ops Booth, Foaly muttering greetings from over a half-empty cup of sim-coffee, already booting his entire system back up even as officers all around were packing up their supplies in boxes.

"Staying on the move?" Artemis asked.

Foaly only grunted in return, downing the rest of his coffee and barking at a techie for a refill. Holly dragged over a box and sat Artemis down next to the technical genius, his eyes nearly a blur as he skimmed the figures dominating one of the smaller screens.

"29 deaths?" he said, blinking in surprise. "29 deaths in the last 24 hours?"

"Approximately," Foaly replied tersely. "We've got all of our officers working overtime on rescue missions. We have no idea how many fairies are trapped or rotting under the piles of rubble."

"Fantastic," Artemis said, glancing over his shoulder. Holly was nowhere to be seen, presumably back to work. He frowned. The day before she had been drained and exhausted, though notably herself. He was just opening his mouth to ask Foaly where she had been when the centaur spoke as if he had read Artemis's mind.

"It was her turn to do body clean-up yesterday," he said. "Nasty work. Very bloody and crude. Most fairies hate it, of course, but it's especially bad for elves. Holly's a tough girl, though, and took it without complaint."

"I see."

Foaly shoved a spare keyboard in Artemis's general direction. "Get working, Mud-boy. We've got to get to the bottom of this. And then we can figure out how to defeat Opal Koboi once and for all."

So Artemis reached for the keyboard, dragging it over to his workplace with an impatient determination, ready to take out the pixie responsible for the death of his mother and the deterioration of his family. For the many nights of repressed pain he had gone through, and the never-uttered screams of raw grief. For the 29 deaths the night before and the many before that. And for the child he had seen being carried away from a rubble pile teeming with the dead.

There was no doubt in his mind that Opal would die by the help of his hands.

Reaching this conclusion, Artemis turned to his own screen, ready to join the fight.

And that's when all the lights went out.

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**Special thanks to Ru-Doragon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, yeah, life is kind of ridiculously similar to a madhouse right now. The next chapter has been written and sent off to my wonderful beta, Ru-Doragon, so the next chapter should be out muy rapido... _right_, dear sweet beta of mine?**

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**Chapter 3**

Artemis reeled back in the sudden blackness, blinking furiously as if he might restore the light. Screams echoed around the building; presumably, the entire structure had lost power. But there was some deep terror in the dark, and he slowly curled his fingers into fists, fighting fear.

"We need to get out," he heard Foaly mutter. "We need to get out of here, something's not right..."

He felt a hand grip his, and then Foaly was pulling him through a crowd of panicked officers, feeling the walls until they found a set of solid steel double doors that led outside, where the emergency lights had lit the streets the day before.

But something was wrong.

Because beyond the doorway, there was nothing but black space and miles of screams.

"Oh, gods," Foaly breathed, and tugged Artemis along with him as he moved farther away from the building. "Oh gods, she's cut off all the power…"

Artemis became more and more disoriented the farther they moved away from the building, buffeted by terrified pedestrians and other officers that had found their way out of the building. Slowly the horror began to calm, and they stood in the middle of some plaza, surrounded by mystery fairies who were waiting in quiet, buzzing apprehension.

Eventually, Artemis heard a vaguely familiar voice barking orders to the officers gathered in the area, and before he could place it, Foaly blurted "Vinyáya!"

The orders cut off and the Wing Commander asked, "Foaly? Is that you?"

"Yes ma'am."

Her voice drew closer, along with offended grumbles from people she was obviously running into. "Want to tell me what the hell is going on, centaur?" she snapped before running blindly into Artemis. "What the — who's this?"

"Artemis Fowl, Wing Commander, but —"

"Damn," she grunted. "Talk about liabilities. Kelp's idea to bring him down here, I'm sure? Nothing to be done about it. Just try to stay out of the way, kid."

Artemis nodded affirmatively despite the complete darkness. "Will do, Wing Commander."

Vinyáya's voice reverted back to LEP officer. "Now, Foaly. Tell me what's going on."

It all happened very fast, then.

The light that erupted not 100 yards away was more than enough to blind them all, but even as they all cried out and shielded their eyes there was no doubt as to what it was. The sound of the temporary LEP headquarters exploding in a magnificent fireball was enough to push in on their eardrums, the smell of smoke and burning flesh filling the air. The fire swirled around in an impressive mixture of reds, oranges, and blues, curling up into nothing but an enormous plume of black smoke that reached the upper cavern, leaving licks of flames and white hot sparks behind to engulf the building and the wailing officers still inside it.

Artemis watched in horror as the building burned, the darkness gone and pushed away by death, and watched as across the city, more and more buildings burst into sudden flames, the reek of smoldering bodies hanging heavily in the air.

By the time he gathered his wits, Vinyáya was gone, off to gather her available officers and corral them into a miniscule rescue mission. Surely destruction of this magnitude, with fires burning all over Haven, would be futile to try and fight, but he knew the Wing Commander would not rest until every last body was found.

It took Foaly another minute to form coherent speech, tears shining in his eyes as he watched his home disappear into the thick smoke that clogged the top of the cavern. No cheers went up as the emergency lights came back on and the power returned to the city in accordance with sirens on every street.

When Trouble arrived at the plaza hours later, covered in soot and blood, the human and the centaur had sat on the curb waiting for someone to find them, their resources gone with the temporary headquarters. He stood over them, grim, and held out a hand for each, pulling them to their feet.

"Come with me."

He led them several city blocks away to a fairly undamaged part of town, the buildings all residential and older. The house he sent them into was filled with technical staff, all buzzing around computers and screens and paying no mind to the new additions.

Trouble sat them down at the one empty set of screens in a far corner of the living room, allowing Foaly to fire up the system and begin syncing the computer to his off-site data storage files before he began to speak.

"We're in deep shit, boys," he said, ignoring the scowl both geniuses sent his way. "We've come across something new. Something bad. No. 1 was out in the field today after the blackout disaster, healing and cleaning up after the fires."

Foaly looked up from his furious typing, instantly concerned. "What's happened? Is he all right?"

Wordlessly, Trouble handed over a battered data crystal.

The video on it was obviously recorded from a helmet feed. The camera swung around a bit, directed by the changes in the officer's head position. After a moment, No.1 came into the frame, magically sifting smoking rubble away from an explosion sight. Everything appeared to be normal — certainly he was a little more weary than Artemis had ever seen him, but the warlock seemed himself — and he found himself wondering just what Trouble was trying to show them.

Just as Artemis was about to voice his thoughts, No. 1 went rigid, the rubble falling with a dusty crash, his eyes thrumming with violently purple magic.

A high, tortured keen erupted from the demon warlock, his limbs beginning to twitch as the energy grew until it encased him in a cocoon of sparks, lifting him several inches off the ground. The camera jolted as the officer began to run toward the scene, but there was a sickening flash and the camera was thrown backwards, spinning around a time or two before landing with a rough jolt, fixed immobile on the scene. Thick bolts of magic had begun to thread around No. 1, completely covering his body and making a horrible zapping sound, nearly washing out his screams.

And then it was over. He landed in a heap on the ground, sobbing profusely into the pile of debris he had previously been trying to move. The officers hung back, wary of approaching the warlock, but there was a faint sound of yelling and then Vinyáya was pushing her way through the small crowd, at the warlock's side in an instant.

She touched him without any hesitation, rolling him over and checking for injuries, barking at officers to step forward and help her. No. 1 lay limp, still crying, pain evident from the grief on his face.

"What happened? What did you feel?" Vinyáya asked, wiping his tears away in an almost motherly fashion.

"I felt death," he whispered, almost inaudible over the speakers. "The energy of the dead… all going through me, going away to someone else…"

"To who?"

"To _her_," he breathed, horror flashing over his face. "She's taking them and using them to feed her fires… Oh, gods, she's _consuming _them…"

No. 1 took a shuddering breath, and then his eyes rolled back into his head, going limp in Vinyáya's arms. She was professionally stoic as always, but there were little cracks in her façade; her hands shook as she snapped rather harshly at a few unfortunate officers to take care of the demon warlock, her eyes glancing around almost like those of a cornered rabbit.

The video ended there, leaving Foaly and Artemis in a stunned sort of silence, both staring wordlessly at the frozen image of the rattled Wing Commander. Trouble let them sit for a moment before stepping in and taking the data crystal.

"He woke up perhaps two hours later," he said. "I asked him some questions, and he was better able to explain."

Artemis leaned forward, rubbing his dry eyes with the heels of his hands. "May I hypothesize?" he asked, doing his best to ignore the headache that had erupted in his temples. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Opal Koboi is the fairy behind the destruction of Haven and Atlantis. She continuously grows stronger not just because of her endowments through use of animal biological features, but because she can charge herself off of the energy from the people her magic kills. The electricity one body produces is far greater than the amount that is needed to power it, and the final burst just before death is considerably more. Opal is harnessing this electricity — interestingly similar to magic — and using it to feed herself, therefore growing stronger with every life she takes. The amount of this siphoned energy in the area had amounted to so much that No. 1, being overly sensitive to magic already, was overwhelmed with it as it made its way out of the city and towards Opal."

There was a pause, and then Foaly spoke. "That is… utterly revolting."

Trouble ignored the centaur and nodded at Artemis. "You're correct," he said. "Somehow I can't find it in myself to be surprised."

Foaly was instantly sobered. "But, then… Trouble, that means Grub —"

The Commander cut him off, instantly busying himself, his voice quivering slightly. "I need you two to find a solution to this problem," he said, shuffling needlessly through a few data pads. "The LEP has been greatly depleted by Opal, and we're running out of options." He turned back to Artemis, fierce tears shining in his eyes. "You've always been good at finding last resorts and making them work, Fowl. Think you can do it one more time?"

Artemis hesitated, and then nodded, respectful of Trouble's honored grief. "I will try my very hardest, Commander Kelp."

The elf pursed his lips and nodded, then, turning on his heel, he disappearing into the sea of workers in the room.

Artemis stared after him for a moment before turning to Foaly, speaking softly. "Grub is dead?"

"Killed on the second day of attacks," Foaly said, and sighed. "One of the many deaths here. I don't have the time to offer sympathy when I have my own wife and child to worry about." He turned back to his screens, typing away. "It's not something you would understand."

"You're wrong," Artemis murmured, his eyes drifting back to where Trouble had last stood. "I know better than any outsider what it feels like to unexpectedly lose someone and to still be expected to carry on as if nothing were different."

The centaur's hands stilled on his keyboard. "Of course you do," he replied quietly, almost impossible to hear over the din coming from the many people and machines in the room. "I'm sorry, Artemis. I don't know what I was thinking."

The genius, his mind unreadable through his stone-cold eyes, stared at Foaly's back for a moment before turning to his own keyboard. "It is no matter," he said briskly, swinging back to his normal no-nonsense attitude. "Merely a slip of the tongue. Now, if I understood Commander Kelp correctly, which I'm quite sure I did, we are down to desperate measures." He began typing rapidly, a finger twitching very slightly every now and then as he mentally conducted, but not nearly enough to throw off his search due to a wrong key stroke. "This race's history is linked to magic and higher power. Perhaps we can find an ancient rune of sorts that could eradicate Opal for good."

Foaly snorted. "Yeah, you have fun with that, Mud Boy. I'll be focusing on science. You know, the _real _world."

"Do what you will. Diversity in our research is probably a good thing."

Foaly simply snorted once more and turned his back on the boy.

Artemis worked silently in the following hours, quickly acquainting himself to the way the fairy databases worked and trawling through the internet blathers that came with it. The Peoples' religion was based on true legends, and all the metaphysical runes he looked into began to swim around his brain, blending into each other like ink on wet parchment. Somewhere along the line Holly appeared with field rations for the both of them, dark circles pouching under her eyes.

"You look rough," she said, squeezing his shoulders in an effort to relieve some of the stiffness.

"Calling the kettle black, aren't you?"

She glanced at a black screen off to the side, grimacing at her reflection. "Maybe a little. What are you doing?"

Artemis waved a hand at his own screen, crowded with research, and briefly explained his thoughts regarding the runes.

Holly tapped his desk in thought. "Have you tried looking in Qwan's database? I'm pretty sure it's completely updated with everything he knows, which _is_ pretty much everything. Or at least as close to everything as possible for any mortal being."

"Yes, that was the first place I looked. Something like this could potentially take me months to find, but…" He sighed heavily, carding a hand through his hair.

"We don't _have _months," Holly finished for him.

"I can't do this in only the hours we may have left," he whispered, too low for anyone to hear but her. "I need _time_, Holly, or she's going to kill everyone. I can't fail at this, not when so much is at stake."

"Don't talk like that —"

"I have a _duty _to this planet, to these people. My brothers…"

"Artemis, listen to me," Holly commanded, forcibly pulling his chair away from the desk and turning it around. She stood over him, roughly grabbing his face and forcing him to look into the eyes that were a mirror image of his own. "You need to _calm down_. We need you, do you understand? We can't have you panicking on us."

"This is not helping," he tried to say, but she shushed him.

"When I was out in the field today, Artemis," she said after a moment, "I tried to rescue a little girl pinned in a half-collapsed building, but the moment I got close, the rest of the building fell and she was crushed right in front me. I managed to get out of the building before I passed out. Trouble had to carry me to a nearby alley and calm me down once I woke up. I was scared out of my mind, Artemis, I'll admit it, and I went crazy for a minute. I just started spouting all the things I've been thinking in the past week; how I can't make a difference and how I'm a failure of an officer and how I'm not brave enough and that it's all a waste anyway."

"Holly—"

"Shush. And do you know what he said to me? He said, 'Short, we could all die today or we could all die in a thousand years, but the last thing that little girl saw was something that gave her hope, and that's something you are never allowed to forget, do you understand?'" She choked up and looked away for a moment, eyes shining with tears. Artemis, stunned by the sight of the normally fiery-tempered officer crying, could only stare until she spoke again.

"And he said, 'What would life be if you had no courage to try and save the ones you love? Don't anticipate the darkest future, or worry about what may never happen. As long as you try with everything you've got, it's all worth it, no matter what happens, because you _will _have made a difference.'" A single tear spilled over, and she looked back at him, ferocity etched into every plane of her face. "I need you to understand that, okay?"

"I don't see how that applies to me," Artemis said hoarsely.

Holly sighed, clearing her eyes by blinking rapidly. "You try so hard at everything you do, Artemis. And I know this is no different. But you've got to keep it together, you hear me? You may be all we've got, but you're stronger than you may think."

"Holly…"

"I _promise _you," she said, and she spoke with such vehement passion that he did not interrupt her again, "that if we all go down at Opal's hands, you and I will go down together knowing that we're not failures." She finally let go of his face, and gripped his hands instead. "I _promise_."

"You can't promise something like that."

"I totally just did," she said, dismissing her completely serious mood and turning his chair back around. "Now. What have you been looking at in your quest for runes? Maybe I could help you out some."

Artemis showed her the growing crowd of data on his screen, trying to sort it all out in his head to in order to present it to her in an understandable fashion, but after about 15 minutes of straight talking Holly's eyes began to lose their focus. She joined him in his quest to find runes, frequently checking her discoveries with him. She wasn't particularly helpful in any way, and sometimes would slow him down with her questions, but he was glad for her company, and it eased the panic throbbing low in his stomach.

After a time, Foaly, who had been growing increasingly frustrated over in his corner, came and consulted with them, sending all three into a dark and lively debate between magic and science. In the end, Artemis won out, as he always did, and by the time midnight rolled around, they were all poring over thousands of runes.

There were fewer techs in the house by then, and the sounds of life were small and deafening in the tired quiet. Artemis did his best to ignore the sound of Foaly's tail swishing back and forth and the little noises Holly made when she would jerk her head up to keep herself from falling asleep, but eventually he scooted his chair back and slammed his head down on the desk, letting out a low growl of frustration.

Instantly, he felt elfin hands at his back. "Are you okay?"

"No," he snapped, and sat up, rubbing his forehead. "There's nothing in any of these that could beat a power like hers, none. How am I supposed to save the world against a power-hungry maniac when I have such limited resources?"

Foaly cracked his neck joints, making Artemis cringe. "Face it, we're going nowhere with this."

"Maybe we're looking at it from the wrong angle," Holly said, fighting to keep the mood from plunging from melancholy to downright pessimistic. "There has to be more than runes when it comes to powerful magic."

"Even if there were, it wouldn't matter," Artemis said, crabby from the hours of, so far futile, work. "Demon warlocks operate their spells on runes. There's no way that finding any sort of incantation that wasn't linked to runes would work through a magic-channeling being. No one could possibly maintain the power it would take to beat Opal but No. 1 or Qwan."

Foaly snorted, downing the very last drop of his sim-coffee. "What I wouldn't give for some god to sweep down and fix all of this."

"Wouldn't we all," Artemis sighed, turning back to his computer. "It's hard to convince myself this isn't some convoluted nightmare that I'm — Holly?"

They both looked at the elf for a moment, unable to voice their questions. Holly was frozen in a half-standing position, mouth slightly open and eyes unfocused, staring into nothingness. For a moment, Artemis feared she had been hit by some sort of freezing epidemic spurred by Opal, but then a half-smile slowly crept over her face, a little noise between a sigh and a laugh escaping her.

"What?" Foaly said, as he stood and approached her cautiously. "What is it, what's happened?"

"The gods," she whispered, finally tearing her eyes away from empty face and looking at the centaur. "We need the power of the gods."

"Holly, what are you talking about?" Artemis demanded.

"Are you okay?" Foaly asked. "Does your head hurt? Do you need to sit down?"

"No, no," she said, waving him off. "The power of the gods. Foaly… _Pro Vox_."

Foaly looked completely baffled for a moment before realization dawned on his face and skepticism replaced it. "_Pro Vox Per Imperiosus? _I don't even remember how that goes."

"It could work —"

"Holly, it's a _myth_."

"What is she talking about?" Artemis asked, focusing intently on the conversation at hand. "What do you mean?"

The fairies ignored him, growing more and more heated in their conversation.

"Foaly, think about it!"

"You need to sit down. You obviously don't have a clear head right now. I don't even remember how it goes."

"I do, something like _'Journey you first —_'"

"Holly, stop it!"

Artemis stood, sitting the elf down. "Foaly, shut up. Holly, I'm a genius but I am not a fairy, and therefore I do not know your stories inside and out."

"Artemis, ignore her, it's a fun little story our parents used to tell us when we were kids."

"I told you to shut up," Artemis retorted, glaring briefly at him before turning back to the elf. "I need to you tell me what this is."

"Very well," she said, and pulled up something off of the database. "Here we go. _Pro Vox Per Imperiosus."_

And she began to read.

* * *

**Everyone loves reviews, and the past three weeks of my life have been somewhat awful. Mind giving the quality of living a little boost, buddy?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yowza, it's been a while — I hear you, HeadlessHoncho. But life, as usual, has been crazier than Schrodinger's half-dead cat, complete with emotional breakdowns, ridiculous amount of chemistry failure, and some insane tap dancing. Not to mention that my lovely beta, Ru-Doragon, and I had some continuity difficulties in this chapter to deal with (props to you for catching them and telling me I couldn't just leave them the way they were).**

**And a shout out to Austere Observer, who spoke up for what several of you messaged me thinking: Pro Vox Per Imperiosus makes no sense when you use on online translator. It was my mistake. I should have put a not telling you not to use one at the bottom of last chapter, since it's going to be explained in _this _one. I consulted the Latin teacher at my school for the translation, so anything weird that you may have discovered online (like "For cry very imperious" — which makes nooo sense) was incorrect.**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"_Journey you first to the mountain of kings,_

_Courage and logic and countenance bring,_

_For when ent'ring the endless, you'll find less is more,_

_Where the weak-minded souls bring you down at the door._

_The power of gods awaits you through the tracks_

_And already you've beaten the first of the tasks._

_Second, a matter of trust is at hand,_

_Persistence and danger and barrenness and_

_Thirdly a trial for the pained and the weak._

_The sweat and the tears and the blood build the reek_

_That Fourthly will bring thee a matter of doom_

_Where some may be lost to the death-ridden gloom._

_Fifth, travel on, though the journey is tiring,_

_For here is where she traps the guilty admiring_

_Men, who perhaps will escape unto sixth_

_Where perhaps all their hope will be cut to the quick._

_The last leg of the journey will end in despair,_

_And all that you've known will end right then and there._

_And will this be pleasing to one who is looking?_

_For power is fickle and lust for is hooking._

_Men few are worthy of that final say,_

_A gamble with life and the living in play._

_You enter by choice and can't leave 'til you're through._

_Ask: power and ruling, but is it worth you?"_

There was a moment of silence after Holly stopped reading, and then Foaly broke the spell with an incredulous snort.

"Well," he scoffed. "_That _sounds really safe."

"Shut it," Holly snapped, turning away from the screen to make room for Artemis, who was intently rereading the poem, and carded an anxious hand through her hair. "You should know by now that we don't really worry about the safety of a last resort."

"Holly, we don't even know if this place is real!" Foaly cried. "It's a legend, an entire fabricated reality composed into a poem. I won't recommend sending in officers to find a solution that may or may not even exist!"

"We are out of options!" Holly yelled. "What does it matter if you're missing a couple officers who can't even do anything here but stand and watch the city fall?"

"And who would you give it to?" Foaly shot back, gesturing angrily at the room around them. "Who would get this supposed 'godly power' that going to destroy Opal Koboi?"

Unwillingly, Holly's eyes flicked over to Artemis, who had yet to take his eyes off of the screen, and a horror-struck look drew over Foaly's face.

"Oh no," Foaly said. "I don't _think _so, Holly Short. You are _not_ putting the fate of the People into the hands of a human, no matter how well-acquainted he may be with us."

"He's brilliant," she said. "He can use it in ways that no one else could, and we can't take any of the warlocks, they're all needed for healing here."

"Holly, this is a _fairy _myth! Do you really think that this — this _place _would give him the mystical powers of a god?"

"Imperium," Artemis murmured, still staring at the poem displayed on the screen. "It's called Imperium."

Foaly raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know that, Mud-boy?"

"_Pro Vox Per Imperiosus_," he said, gesturing vaguely toward the title of the poem. "For Power Through Imperium. Power Through Power." Steepling his fingers, he read over the poem again, voicing his thoughts. "This is Latin, but fairy. It reads back years and years ago — almost two full millennium, I should think, back when humans and fairies lived in coexistence. The Latin will have been transcribed from Hebrew text, when the Romans rose to power, but they will not have known what it meant then. And the Hebrew…" An odd expression crossed over his face, as if he were recalling a particularly distasteful memory. "The Hebrew will be from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics."

"Why is that important?" Holly asked.

"When the People and the humans parted ways for the last time, their languages were quite similar. That was how I discovered how to translate Gnommish to English. Egyptian hieroglyphics and Gnommish characters are quite analogous." Sighing gently through his nose, Artemis thought his words through before vocalizing. "If this poem is as old as it seems to be, then I would hypothesize that this is a message from a warlock from quite a long time ago."

"A warlock?" Foaly sniffed. "Why?"

Artemis turned toward Foaly, giving him a scathing look. "Think about it. This poem dictates a scientific discovery, Foaly. A way to obtain power from the gods without being born into higher magical powers."

"But why would a warlock want to distribute power?" Holly murmured. "Warlocks are protective of their powers by nature, and very hesitant to accept it from others."

"Then it would have to be someone desperate," Artemis said slowly, turning to stare her down. "Think, Holly. What warlock could possibly be so desperate to voice his discovery before his last chance passed by? What situation could guarantee that even if the life of the scientist ended, not even the notes would ever be found? How could a poem dictating instructions on how to obtain the power of _gods_ appear out of nowhere?"

Foaly breathed in sharply. "The time tunnel."

Holly's eyebrows flew up into her bangs. "And _Limbo!_"

"One of the demon warlocks who died there," Artemis said. "One of the ones who weren't strong enough to hold the circle together after Abbot destroyed it all. He must have written it as the spell was in progress and cast it into the tunnel, hoping his discovery would make it through."

"That doesn't sit right with me," Foaly said, kneading his forehead. "If the warlock had known about the power and how to get it in such great detail as to even know the tasks, he would have had to have gotten the power himself. So why couldn't he write it down step-by-step instead of being so cryptic?"

"And why wouldn't he have used the power to get them all safely to Limbo?" Holly chimed in.

Artemis stood, pacing, his fingers moving to music almost against his will. "Perhaps he did not know," he mused, his voice varying in tempo in the smallest increment to match his music, the rhythm influencing his speech. "Perhaps he only had a glimpse of this place, an idea… but how?"

"Foaly," Holly said, sitting down and tapping her foot. "When did the colony go into Limbo for the first time?"

"I don't know," he admitted with a huff. "It's unclear, and Qwan can't tell us either; his memory of that period is muddled."

"So the warlock only got a glimpse, meaning they didn't actually go through with it. They would have had to have direct telepathic contact with someone who had been through it or was born with the knowledge…" She paused, and then straightened. "Frond! What if it had been during _Animadverto Deus_?" she said, her eyes lighting up.

"'Notice God?'" Artemis translated, skeptical.

"Yes, yes," Foaly said, staring at Holly with wide eyes. "We more commonly translate it to 'See God.' You see, there is a period in mythical history when it is said that the gods frequently came down to Earth and mingled with the mortals. Some were said to have fallen in love. A myth, yes, but if it's true…"

"Holly's great-grandfather is Cupid," Artemis interjected.

"Yes," Foaly admitted. "But that's… well, that's Cupid, if you get my drift."

"If it's true for the other gods, then perhaps a god or goddess could have been persuaded to give a little bit of the secret away," Holly breathed.

There was a brief period of silence, and then the centaur shook his head. "No. We've based far too much on forcing myths to coincide with each other."

"But it fits," Artemis said. "There is no proof that the other gods had affairs with mortals, but if they did..."

"If they did, then this could have honestly happened," Holly said. "This could be it. This is what we could beat Opal with."

"We have no _proof!_" Foaly cried. "All we have is some blind speculation that probably leads to nothing."

"Not if we can get a primary source," Artemis replied. "Holly, if you will."

Holly had her communicator out before Artemis could say another word, voicing her message quickly. "Breaker 1-4. Radio check, Commander, what's your 20?"

A moment, and then Trouble's voice replied. "8th and Folts. You need something?"

"Four on that, send Qwan stat. Over."

There was a short pause, and then: "10-4. Any trouble, Major?"

"Negatory sir, just a question for him."

"Roger."

Foaly sniffed, returning to his screen. "Unbelievable," he said. "You two go ahead and waste time on this. I'll get back to work and try to figure out how to save the world while you two goof off over there."

Artemis and Holly glared at him, but said nothing.

Perhaps half a minute passed before Holly spoke again. "What am I pushing you, sir?"

The line opened and background noise floated out of the speaker before Trouble spoke again. "Five and nine, hold."

Another minute passed before Foaly ventured to speak over his shoulder, curious despite his annoyance. "What the hell is taking so long?"

Holly shushed him, tapping her foot impatiently. Another minute, then:

"He's on his way," Trouble said.

She sighed, dropping the communicator on the desk and holding up both hands to Artemis. He looked at them quizzically before hesitantly bringing his own palms up to touch hers.

Holly rolled her eyes. "It's a double high-five, Mud-Boy."

"I see," he said slowly, and gently bumped his own hands against hers in the loosest definition of a high-five. She shook her head, a small, exasperated smile gracing her lips, but accepted the effort.

"Here's to getting one step closer," she said softly, but not so softly that Foaly couldn't hear.

"Yeah," he scoffed. "One step closer to nowhere."

An odd expression passed briefly over Artemis's face, but he smoothed it over so quickly that Holly couldn't be certain that she had seen it.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said shortly. "Butler must be worried sick about me, however. Are any communications outside of LEP radio working?"

Holly looked to Foaly, who shook his head grimly.

It was at that moment that Qwan joined them. His skin, normally a healthy shade of gray, now looked like a burned organ left out to dehydrate, and his eyes looked dull in their sockets. Holly sat him down and hurried off to find a stray packet of sim-coffee mix, leaving the warlock to answer Artemis's questions.

"How do you feel?" he asked, giving the Qwan a quick once-over.

"Drained," he replied, his voice somewhat raspy. "But functioning quite well. And yourself?"

"Fine, thank you," Artemis said, and dismissed all other thoughts of formality. "Now, Qwan, we have come across a theory that needs a few more points filled in to make it sound."

"More than a _few _points," Foaly called over his shoulder.

"You're a relentless ass, aren't you?" Artemis snapped back.

Qwan spoke before Foaly could lash out a fiery comeback. "My dear boy, why are you concerning yourself with a theory right now? There are people to be saved and a war to be fought."

"Believe me, that is in every thought and motion I go through," Artemis replied. "Holly and I have discovered something that may be the answer to our dilemma with a certain pixie."

"Have you really?" the warlock replied, an energized excitement entering his voice.

"I believe so," Artemis said. "A place called Imperium. I'm not quite sure if you would have heard of it or not."

Qwan's ears drooped just a fraction. "Oh, yes. Imperium."

"You know if it, then?"

"Of course I know it," he said tartly. "It was Qwest's complete obsession, back in the beginning of Limbo."

"Qwest? One of the warlocks in the magic circle?"

"Indeed. And perhaps the most eccentric of the lot of us."

Artemis had doubts about that, but he chose not to voice them, instead leaning forward to place his elbows on his knees. "Qwan," he said, staring him straight in the eyes. "Was Qwest ever involved with a god?"

The demon instantly looked away, his skin flushing. "Er… yes, _involved _is as good a word as any."

Artemis cocked his head, curious. "Would you care to explain that to me?"

Qwan took a deep breath. "During the time of _Animadverto Deus_, Qwest began to find serious passion in the workings of time and space. This attracted the… _interest_, of a certain god — Saturn, if you must know — and they spent many hours working together, Saturn teaching Qwest of time and Qwest carrying out his deeds in return. For a long while, we all thought their relationship was platonic… but then Qwest's mate walked in on a, eh… 'lesson.'"

"Fascinating," Artemis breathed, momentarily sidetracked. "I didn't know the demons had sexualities."

"Neither did any of us. It was unheard of before that, a male of our kind mating with another. Nobody saw Saturn after that, but word was he still visited now and then to do who-knows-what. But everyone saw that Qwest was happy, and for most of us, what he did with Saturn was of no problem."

"Most of you?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, some fairies saw it as a crime — and certainly, back then it was far more rare than it is today to be openly homosexual. Qwest was attacked, once, in the middle of the night, and didn't wake up for a week. After that he was never quite the same, and Saturn never did visit again."

Artemis was quiet for a moment, pressing his lips to his knuckles in silent thought. "Qwan," he said slowly after a time. "Is it possible that Saturn accidentally passed on a small bit of telepathic knowledge to Qwest?"

The warlock's brow clenched a bit. "Yes, it most certainly is. In the first few weeks after we arrived in Limbo, Qwest would not speak. After the attack he was certainly more introverted, but no matter what we did, none of us could get him to talk. And when he finally did speak again, it was strange babbling about another sort of world — this _Imperium_ you asked me about."

"So he knew before Limbo?"

"He had to have. There is absolutely no way Saturn could have contacted him through the gap in time and space. Limbo is a godless place."

Artemis made a small sound of consent. "So Qwest was obsessed with it?"

"Yes, obsessed," Qwan agreed, rubbing his eyes. "For days at a time, he would lock himself away and think in the dark, always trying to piece together a puzzle of images in his mind. He told me things of men, of mountains, of terrible beasts. Most took him for mad, and he was. He called the place 'Imperium' right from the start, swearing in his insanity that he would find it and return to Saturn in his true, godlike form."

"But where did he see this place, do you think?"

"In his week of slumber," Qwan said. "For him, it was only seconds before he awoke. I personally believe that when he lost consciousness, Saturn's own perception, being so linked to Qwest's, was momentarily thrown out of balance, and something the god had been wanting to tell the warlock broke through the barrier."

"Barrier?"

"Gods have certain things they are never allowed to say to mortals."

Artemis nodded slowly. "And the poem?"

"Yes, the poem. He wrote it all in ten minutes, I kid you not. It's like a piece of his brain simply clicked, and when he was done he waved it in my face, trying to make me understand his cryptic words. 'This is all I'm allowed to say,' he told me then. 'Please understand.' But I could not. And he cried, begging us to go back. It was only a scouting trip, meant to last for no more than a week or two to see if the island could hold life, and so we agreed to reverse the spell early and take the island out of Limbo. I suppose he took the poem with him and simply let it float into the stream, and… Well. You know the story from there."

Artemis let out a long breath, gently massaging his temples in a vain effort to relieve his headache. "I surmise it was transported to ancient Egypt, since Gnommish and Egyptian are quite similar."

Qwan thought for a moment. "Yes, I suppose that is as good a place as any. Logical, at any rate."

"The 'mountain of kings' he wrote of," Artemis mused. "Mount Everest, do you think?"

"Yes. A place at the top of the highest mountain in the world, he told me," Qwan said. "At the very top, the Song of the Gods would be uttered, and the gates would be opened to Imperium, locking the travelers away inside."

There was a silence then. Most of the LEP techs were gone by then, replaced by a few on a night-shift. The room was dim and rather stuffy. Artemis tried to breath deeply and stimulate his brain, but having found answers that linked a puzzle together had released a load of tension off his shoulders, throwing his body into an unexpected relaxed state. The gentle hum of computers and the rhythmic clacking of keys acted as a lullaby, and his eyes began to droop…

"They never saw each other again?" Holly said softly, and he jumped, unaware that she had been standing behind him for quite some time.

Qwan stared at her for a moment, his eyes almost laser-like in their quiet observance. "No," he said finally. "Saturn and Qwest never saw each other again."

Wordlessly, Holly handed him his coffee. He nodded his thanks and stood, making wearily for the door. He went slowly enough that Artemis could have stopped him if he wanted, but the genius let him go, sighing and running his hands through his hair when the warlock was out of sight.

"How much did you hear?" he asked.

"Enough to know that it's valid," Holly replied softly. "Enough to know that it could work."

Artemis turned to look at her, the bags under his eyes matching hers, and said nothing. Their eyes paired up for a second, completing the set, and Holly offered up a little half-smile, trying to boost his mood.

"Sorry to break this up," Trouble said, and they whipped around, startled.

"You certainly came in quietly," Holly said, straightening. "Has something happened?"

"I just came to make sure you made your way to the new HQ," he replied, his voice only just displaying how tired he was. "If you had your way, you would work yourself into the ground before giving into something as mundane as sleep."

A tiny smile curled the corner of her lips, and something radiated in the air; a strong sense of comradery that could only come from many hard years of friendship. Artemis raised an eyebrow, but she didn't notice.

"Too right you are," she said softly.

"Off to bed with you," Trouble said. "The location's been broadcasted, so it should be in your helmet feed." He reached behind his head, scratching his scalp and yawning greatly. "Also, what did you need Qwan for?"

"I'd like to take over here," Artemis said. "Holly and I have come across an idea."

Holly nodded at this, and Trouble turned, ears pricked for a new solution, his stance energized anew. But as Artemis explained further and further, he began to droop back to his previous beaten position until he looked even more tired than he had before. Artemis's speech drew to a close, and behind them, Foaly snorted softly.

"Look, Fowl," he said. "I appreciate the work you've tried to do, but…"

"It's fictional," Foaly broke in from behind, still working tirelessly at his computer.

"Perhaps," Trouble allowed, trying to be fair. "And to be honest, I can't spare a single officer right now, least of all on some legend that may be true or may just be the ravings of a crazy demon warlock."

"Trouble, we're out of options —" Holly began.

"You're to call me Commander when on duty, Major," he said softly.

Her jaw clenched. "My apologies, sir," she said, her voice tense from keeping her temper in check. "But if you'll allow me to speak my opinion?"

"Of course."

"People are _dying_, sir, and there's nothing we can do but sit and watch it happen." She took a deep breath. "I know I am not only speaking for myself when I say that I cannot handle it much longer, and that I grow a little more frustrated with the LEP each day."

"Understandable, Major," he said, and Holly cut him off.

"Every day we're get closer to being extinct at the extent of her amusement, sir, and that's completely intolerable. Obviously this system isn't working right now, and something needs to change."

Trouble's voice rose, his pitch growing with each word. "We're doing the best we can, Holly —"

"You don't have this situation under control, and —"

"It's impossible to have a situation like this under control —"

"Julius could have done it!" she yelled, and immediately clapped her hands to her lips, the temperature in the room seemingly dropping 20 degrees in an instant. Trouble's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, his face displaying nothing but hurt. The room went dead silent, all eyes on Holly.

"Trouble," she whispered. "Trouble, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean that…"

His expression withdrew and a mask took over his face. "You're not to make any more nonsense about this Imperium, Major Short. Make your way to the new headquarters and sleep — that's an order. You'll not be working here tomorrow, only out in the field. And you, Fowl." He glared at Artemis. "From now on, you're working with Foaly on real, scientific solutions or you'll be sent home with no communications, do you understand me?" Without waiting for an explanation, he swept from the room, seething.

Holly watched him go, open-mouthed. Foaly stared silently, leaving Artemis to do his best to ignore his 'I-told-you-so' expression.

Only the occasional emergency light lit the streets, riddled with rubble and holes, shadowing Holly's face as she dragged Artemis away from his work and toward the headquarters privy to Trouble's orders. The lights were already out by the time they made it into the basement of the warehouse in the industrial district, forcing Artemis to find them a spare spot in the middle of the huge room using the light of his otherwise-useless communicator. The mattresses from the night before were gone, lost to the flames that had torn through the building, and replaced by a single blanket to every space. Holly plopped down immediately on the concrete, curling up with her back to where Artemis was left to lay.

The basement was cold, and he tentatively shared the blanket with Holly, who was as responsive as a rock to any quiet checks he made on her.

"Holly," he whispered, barely touching her shoulder, but she pulled away, leaving him shivering on the cold concrete, trying to find a way to not think about things that hurt.

Eventually, the fact that his body was lying down caught up to his brain, and a wave of sleep pulled his eyelids down, casting him, for once, into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

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**There is a poll on my profile for what I should write about next in All The Little Pieces. Vote, por favor?**


	5. Chapter 5

**First, the good news: I passed all my classes for the semester!**

**And the bad news: I ignored Imperium until the end of the semester because I really wanted to pass and, in turn, I did not write. Also, my lovely beta Ru-Doragon has a life and it was the holidays, so she couldn't edit the moment I sent it to her. So it was an unfortunate clash of events that ended in one very delayed chapter.**

**Sorry. I'll try to speed it up next time.**

**

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Chapter Five**

Butler thundered down the stairs, gun ready, having narrowly escaped his second heart attack in one year.

Not a minute before, a silver sedan, perhaps ten years old, had sped onto the property. Obviously the gate security had been bypassed as the car had approached, as it had opened slowly as the vehicle had torn up toward it, clipping off a side mirror as it passed. The driver had to be inexperienced, as the car swerved over the winding driveway, clumsily handled around corners. Butler had stared in horror for one single moment before grabbing his Sig Sauer and running for the front door.

He reached it right as the car screeched to a halt on the road that circled the fountain out front, fishtailing on the gravel driveway. He cocked his gun, aiming a warning shot, and was given another shock as Artemis threw the driver's side door open, looking more tired that Butler had ever seen him, and sprinted up the stairs toward his bodyguard.

"Hurry up!" he called over his shoulder, and Butler just shook his head, past surprise, as Holly climbed shakily out of the passenger seat, looking a little green.

"In the future," she groaned, "remind me to never let your charge drive me _anywhere_."

"I don't think I'll need to remind you," Butler said, and snatched Artemis by the collar as he attempted to rush past him. "Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick."

"Inside!" Artemis snapped, pulling free of Butler's grip and grabbing Holly by the wrist as she approached and yanking her past the open front door. "Where are father and the boys?"

"Your father's at a meeting and the twins are down for a nap. You're fine, as long as you're quiet."

"Excellent," Artemis said, and made for the grand staircase, Holly following suit.

"Hold it," Butler said, striding in front of them. "I have been calling you, Holly, and Foaly for the last three days without success. I never heard a _word _from you, Artemis. All I got was that I was supposed to drop you off at Tara for no reason. What is going on?"

"As we walk, old friend," Artemis commanded, side-stepping Butler and heading up the stairs. "We have a lot to do and not much time to do it."

Artemis explained the current predicament underground and the discovery of Imperium as they walked briskly toward his study, allowing Holly to tune out and observe the solemn, pale-faced portraits they passed by on the way. The dark paneled wood of the old, narrow hallways almost seemed like it was compressing, making her feel slightly claustrophobic as Artemis led them through the labyrinth that was the manor.

Not four hours ago she had woken Artemis up in the pitch-black basement of the new make-shift LEP headquarters. Unable to sleep, she had thought for hours of the screams echoing around the city, and how the dead were beginning to outnumber the living. It was alien, against everything she had ever known, and she knew that honestly, there was nothing the LEP could do to stop the onslaught and the death.

So she had dragged Artemis out of his apparently peaceful sleep and practically ran across the city, using the bewildered boy and her badge to persuade the guard that she was taking an authorized emergency shuttle to the surface. Artemis had been relentless in his questions, of course, and even when his lips were rippling from the G-force, he attempted to find holes in her plan.

And really, it wasn't hard. The only answer she could give him was yes, they were going to Imperium.

Artemis had stolen a car from a farm close to Tara, and Holly, unable to drive it, was forced to dig her nails into the seat as he peeled toward his home, breaking nearly every traffic law in the book.

"Oh my gods, Artemis!" she had screeched as they followed a hairpin turn at seventy miles an hour, narrowly missing pretzeling around a thick tree by the side of the road. "Have you even _driven _a car before?"

"Yes, obviously" he replied with a slight roll of the eyes. "You've been in the car with me when I've driven. I have a license."

"Then for Frond's sake, slow down!"

"I can't," he replied curtly, keeping is eyes on the curving country road, his brow creased in concentration as the speedometer crept over ninety. "We don't have enough time as it is. Going any slower would be foolish."

Presently, they had made their way into his study and Artemis was coming up with a list of supplies, directing Butler to fetch them. They worked seamlessly, indicating that they had gone through such activities together many times, and when Holly tried to help out, they both shooed her away curtly. Understanding that they had a style they didn't want to break, but still a bit put out, Holly resorted to reading the spines of the books lining the walls.

There were thousands of them, from the ground to the very top of the 13-foot ceiling. Holly marveled at the sight, wondering if Artemis had read all of them, and where he stored the knowledge packed inside each one. She sat on the second rung of one of the ladders for the bookcases, watching Artemis and Butler work together to fold parachutes, correcting each other's mistakes without even thinking about it. She had never thought about it, but there was incredible chemistry between the two — not in the romantic sense, of course, but in the way that they seemed almost made for each other.

Holly watched them for a while, feeling rather useless, and the time slowly ticked by. Eventually a little voice could be heard calling from somewhere in the manor, and Butler looked up, the expression on his face looking like he had forgotten the younger Fowl children existed. Perhaps he had, for a time. Holly supposed that they had gone through proceedings much like this when they had scouted for fairies at Ritual sites, and she could easily see the routine taking him briefly away from the current times.

Artemis scowled, annoyed at their routine being interrupted. "Distract them for a while," he said. "Call their nanny. Tell her I don't care what she's doing. I need her over here as quickly as is humanly possible. I'll multiply her hourly rate by ten for the effort."

Butler nodded to the orders given and strode from the room, already speed-dialing the nanny.

Holly stared at Artemis, who was quickly mapping out a flight plan, and then asked, "Can I help?"

"No," he said without stopping his work. "You don't know how to operate human objects. I do not want you messing anything up. Find some way to amuse yourself if you wish."

Holly pursed her lips, rising from her perch on the ladder. His study was gloomy despite the lit chandeliers. The dark shelves, antique floor, and heavy velvet curtains sucked the light and energy from the room. She wandered back towards the big picture window, mostly obscured by the curtains, and stopped at his desk. Artemis was certainly a minimalist worker, for his workspace was clean save for his computers, a few everyday supplies, and a solitary picture frame lying face down.

Curiosity piqued, she approached the huge desk, gingerly picking up the picture and turning it around. When she saw it, her heart lurched; his mother smiled up from the photograph, her face younger. The picture possessing a slightly washed-out, browned quality that suggested it was old, perhaps even pre-Artemis. His father was not present in the picture, a fact that made her wonder how the boy currently felt toward the older man. But what made her ache the most for him were the cracks that webbed the glass, as if the frame had been broken, shattering lines all over Angeline's pretty face.

A pale hand reached around her and snatched the picture away. Holly jumped, not having heard him approach, and looked back guiltily. Artemis had lowered a shield over his face, drawing his features to a blank slate, and stared impassively at her.

"Er — sorry, Artemis, I didn't mean to —"

"I said you may amuse yourself," he said, somewhat sharply. "But I did not give you permission to be nosy."

Holly felt her cheeks burn, but she opened her mouth in protest when Artemis dumped the frame carelessly into the waste bin next to his desk, effectively throwing out the picture of Angeline it contained.

"Artemis!" she said, shocked. "That's your mom you just threw away!"

"No, it isn't," he said over his shoulder, back to work as if nothing had interrupted him. "My mother is dead."

She stood, floored, and stared disbelievingly at his back. Having lost her own mother unexpectedly, she couldn't comprehend how he could have carelessly thrown away her picture. She had had dozens of pictures of Coral sprinkled around her apartment before it had been destroyed. Memories of her mother made her feel safe, and most importantly, happy.

"Fairies are sentimental creatures," Artemis said as if he had read her mind. "Humans are not so foolish — at least, _I'm _not. I can't waste my time yearning for someone who is never coming back."

Holly felt stung by the backhand comment, but let it be, knowing the front he was putting up was only covering an enormous bundle of hurt.

Nearly half an hour of awkward silence passed before Butler reentered the study, announcing the arrival of the nanny and pretending not to notice the new tension that had bloomed while he was gone. Artemis worked silently, replying with only short, terse answers when Butler asked him questions.

Holly watched from a distance, occasionally peeking out the windows for some sign of the LEP coming to get them. She had left Haven knowing full well that shewas breaking many wartime regulations, and though she doubted that Trouble had officers to spare, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

"Master Fowl?"

Holly, sapped of magic and unable to shield, threw herself under the desk as the nanny entered, at first peering nervously around the corner, no doubt from experience of Artemis's moody personality.

"What is it?" Artemis snapped, peeved at being interrupted yet again.

"Will I be staying overnight this time, sir?"

"You will be staying until my father gets back from…" He looked at Butler, suddenly realizing that he didn't actually know what country his father was in.

"India," the bodyguard offered.

"Yes," Artemis said. "You may leave when he returns. Ten times your normal hourly, even if you're staying overnight."

"Of course, sir," she said. "And when shall I tell him you'll be back?"

Holly scoffed silently under the desk, realizing that the nanny was used to Artemis running off in his father's absence.

Artemis paused, his hands going still on the tables for the first time in hours. "I do not know," he said slowly, his voice a little hoarse. "Tell him I will be back as soon as I can."

"Yes, sir."

"And remind him that the boys have a doctor's appointment he needs to take them to on Wednesday. And that they take vitamins every morning."

Holly raised her eyebrows, surprised. What kind of father wouldn't know his own children took vitamins?

"Of course, sir," the nanny said, unfazed. "Enjoy your trip."

Artemis answered only by snapping some sort of case shut with a metallic click. Holly waited a few moments before emerging from underneath the desk.

"Nice stealth," Butler commented, shooting her a glance, and then his focus returned to his charge. "He's going to be angry, you know. He doesn't like having to deal with the fallout of your spontaneous trips."

"Seeing that the world's about to end, I couldn't care less," Artemis said, his face completely calm, but both Holly and Butler could see the anger in his eyes. "He can be as angry as he pleases. He has no power over me anymore."

Holly noted the addition of the "anymore," watching Artemis and Butler zip up the last of the hiking backpacks, stuffing the snowsuits inside.

"Did you just happen to have snowsuits lying around?" she asked as Butler began to carry the packs out to the jet.

"They are from one of the Arctic expeditions," Artemis said, now texting rapidly on his smart phone. "The one you'll be wearing was mine. I'll be taking the one of our guide."

"Oh," Holly said, scratching her head. "Who are you texting?"

"The pilot."

"The pilot?" Holly questioned. "I thought both you and Butler could fly the jet."

Artemis gave her a scathing look that almost made her doubt her IQ. "Yes, we can," he said slowly, as if he were speaking to a small child. "But someone's going to have to land it somewhere once we jump out."

"Wait — do _what _now?"

"Honestly, Holly, weren't you listening earlier?" Artemis sighed.

"No, not really."

"You can't land a Lear Jet on Mount Everest, and we have neither the means nor the power to scale it." He put his phone down. "How long will it take you to sing this 'Song of the Gods?'"

Holly ran through it in her head. "About thirty seconds," she said. "Why?"

"I'll plan for forty-five seconds of free-fall," he muttered to himself. "Let's see, the acceleration is 9.8 meters per second… fabulous. Forty-five seconds over the highest point in the world. This is going to _decimate _my engines."

Butler reentered, his hands free, and picked up a few of the remaining bags. Holly jumped at the chance to help, eager to be free of Artemis's black mood. Butler paused when she took two bags, and then nodded.

"We can take the back staircase."

They walked quickly and quietly through the hallways. Arbitrarily, Holly found herself wondering how many solemn portraits a family could own.

"They go back to the 1500s," Butler said, catching her frowning at a particularly grumpy, fat Fowl. "Some of these paintings have been on the walls for centuries, and haven't been taken down since their creation. Artemis despises them, but it's a family tradition. If there's one thing he respects, it his family's honor."

"He wasn't at all this bad in the shuttle," Holly said. "What's gotten into him?" He gave her an odd look as they reached the bottom of the service stairs. "You know, he was surprisingly civil to you up there. I've only seen him act like that to his mother and Juliet when he's angry."

"Not you?"

"Well," Butler said with a little laugh. "He knows I'll forgive him for almost anything he could possibly do, so he doesn't hold his tongue when he's speaking to me."

"And what about the rest of his family? That doesn't seem like it would be beneficial to their relationships to take out his anger on them."

"Yes, well," Butler said. "He doesn't really talk to his father, and his father pretty much ignores him. He only speaks to Myles and Beckett and me. It's like he sees Artemis as a bug or a toy to play with. It's like the way things used to be between them before Mr. Fowl went missing, and it scares me."

"Scares you? Why? I mean, I get that it's a hard relationship, but why?"

"It would be difficult for you to understand," Butler said, stepping through the back door. "You remember what Artemis was like when you first met, don't you?"

"Of course."

"Well..." The bodyguard sighed, squinting in the late afternoon sun. "I guess you could say that he wasn't born that way."

Holly was silent, trying to make connections. "Did his father beat him?"

"Heavens no, I would have killed him if he had." He sighed. "But he was cold. He didn't speak to or even look at Artemis very often, and when he did it to criticize or lecture. You couldn't even begin to imagine it, Holly. Ever since you've known Artemis, he's been strong, a leader even in his moment of weakness. But back then, things were different. He was always silent around his father. I don't believe that Mr. Fowl meant to be cruel in any way — rather, he wanted Artemis to be a better man when he grew up — but it was almost like he was emotionally abusing his son. Life with Artemis's father was never a picnic, even at its greatest. I guess it wasn't until his father went missing that Artemis learned what it was like to not live in apprehension."

Holly was silent for a moment, and the only sound was from their feet crunching on the gravel path. "Gods," she said softly. "I never knew."

"He finds the most arbitrary excuses to get out of the house, especially when his father is home," Butler said. "He doesn't like being around him, especially now that Mrs. Fowl is gone. And the truly horrible thing is that he treats Myles and Beckett quite well, even if he is quite absent from their lives. Artemis is alienated from his own family. If this continues, I'm afraid he'll go back to the way he used to be. And I can't see him go through that again."

Holly didn't speak as they loaded the supplies into the jet and walked back to the manor. From far away, the house looked ancient and soulless, and knowing what had happened so many years ago, Holly felt uncomfortable walking through the halls.

They reached his study silently, and Holly stopped at the door. Artemis was hunched over his desk, his back to the door and his palms flat on the wood. She couldn't quite tell what he was doing. He was far too still to be crying.

Butler cleared his throat and Artemis abruptly straightened and stepped away from the desk revealing the picture frame that he had dug out of the trash.

"Very well, then," he said, smoothing his sleep-wrinkled shirt. "Are we ready?"

"The jet is ready. All we're waiting on is the pilot."

"Yes, he should be here momentarily…" Far away, a doorbell rang, as if the pilot had simply been waiting for Artemis's cue. "Take care of that, would you? I need to speak to Holly privately."

The elf was more than a little surprised as Artemis took her hand and guided her to an armchair, kneeling in front of her once she was seated.

"First of all, I'd like to apologize for my behavior toward you today," he said.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Oh my. You're apologizing. Hell has frozen over."

"I'm being serious," he said sharply, and she could tell by the ferocity in his hardened face that he was telling the truth. "I have a habit of being unpleasant when —"

"When you're angry," Holly finished. "It's okay. I know. I get it."

He held her gaze for a second, and apparently found the answer he wanted there because he continued on after a moment. "Also, before we continue on this ridiculous journey, I need you to search down deep inside yourself and make sure that you're sure about this."

"Aren't you?"

"Well, yes," Artemis admitted. "I think it's our last chance to defeat Opal. But all three of us need to make sure that we believe in this opportunity. I know I do, and Butler will follow me wherever I go no matter what the circumstances, but I need to make sure you will have no regrets about going to Imperium."

"I won't," Holly said without a moment's hesitation.

"But think for a second before you jump to conclusions," he said. "Once we're in this place, there's no getting out until we win or die, and there could be more suffering than you can possibly imagine in between. Are you sure you want to take this on?"

"The future of our world is at stake, Artemis," Holly said firmly. "Not just mine, not just yours. If she wins, the _entire world _will fall. I will do anything it takes."

"Very well," he said, standing. "Let us begin our adventure."

They walked down the hallways and the stairs quietly, preserving the silence between them as one of their last moments of peace. The dark paneled halls were no longer constraining but cozy, like they were trying to force their last drops of serenity into the pair.

Because it was sure to be quite some time before things could be called good again.

They were nearly to the back door when an unexpected voice called, "Artemis?"

Artemis and Holly froze before the elf threw herself into the open pantry, shutting it quickly and peering through the slatted door. Seconds later Artemis Fowl Sr. entered the room, looking more haggard and gray than he ever had.

"Oh," Artemis said stiffly. "Hello, Father. You're back from India earlier than I expected."

Artemis Senior dodged the remark. "I hear from the nanny that you're planning to gallivant off on another one of your little trips."

A vein jutted out in Artemis's neck. "It's not a 'little trip,' Father. I have always had valid reasons for —"

"Don't you think it's selfish to leave your brothers like this?" the older man snapped. "Did I _give _you permission to leave? I'm your father. I have the right to know when and where you're traveling."

"When have you ever cared where I am?" Artemis retorted. "You're not one to talk about being selfish with trips. You're gone far more frequently than I am, and the boys need their father more than they need their brother."

"Don't talk to me like that," Artemis Senior warned.

"Or what? You can't control me anymore, Father. I'm seventeen. I can do what I want to with my life, and that includes traveling in order to accomplish my self-given tasks."

"Artemis, so help me —"

The back door opened, and Butler stepped in. "Artemis, the engine is warmed up if you — oh. Good evening, Mr. Fowl."

"Butler," he replied curtly. "So you're once again aiding my son in his errant globetrotting?"

"Leave him out of your animosity," Artemis snapped. "Contrary to what you choose to believe, I personally employ Butler, not you. He follows my orders, not yours."

"Just listen to yourself. Your mother would —"

"Support my actions," Artemis interrupted, his voice icy. "I have important business to attend to elsewhere. Go spend time with your other sons, since they're obviously your top priority."

"You're not being fair," his father argued.

"No, _you're _not," Artemis snapped. "I don't have time for this. Butler, we need to go."

"God damn it, Artemis, listen to me for once!" his father yelled, halting his son.

"No," Artemis said coldly. "I'm not going to listen to you, because you have never listened to me, not once in your life. I have _needed _you more than anyone at times, and you've never been there. So I don't think I owe it to you to listen."

And with that, he stalked out the back door, his bodyguard in tow, childishly slamming it behind him. Through the slats, Holly could see the older man's façade crumble, his face contorting in hurt and disbelief. She felt her stomach drop as he carded his hands through his graying hair, tears welling up in his brilliant blue eyes.

"Shit," he whispered. "I don't understand…"

He slumped over the island, regaining his composure, and then stood, straightening his suit jacket. He took a deep breath and called for the twins, announcing his arrival as he exited the kitchen rapidly. Stealing her chance, Holly sprang from the pantry, running for the backdoor and sprinting across the lawn toward the jet hanger.

The engines were started by the time she made it there, Butler waiting at the top of the stairs and beckoning for her. She vaulted up, taking his offered hand, and the door closed tightly behind her, the jet moving away from its spot, making for the runway. Artemis sat at the back, obviously upset and not wanting to talk, so Holly took her seat and strapped in, ready to whether the oncoming storm.

As it turned out, the luxury jet didn't handle mountain turbulence well.

Hours had passed since takeoff, and Artemis hadn't moved once, staring blankly out the window, his arms crossed stiffly in front of him. Holly was understandably uncomfortable, not trusting human crafts no matter how much Artemis had modified them, twitching every time the plane dropped with the wind. Butler tracked their coordinates, shooting anxious glances Artemis's way every few minutes.

Holly wondered if Artemis knew about the way his father had positively deflated when he had left. Somehow, Butler's earlier explanation seemed skewed, and Artemis Senior seemed poorly represented. To Holly, he seemed like he was just a tired, grieving man who was trying his best to connect with a son he didn't really know or understand.

She visibly winced as the plane jumped around, rattling the passengers. Butler reached over and clutched one of her tiny hands in his, squeezing reassuringly.

"We'll be fine," he mumbled. "This plane has been through worse."

Nevertheless, Holly gripped the armrests until her knuckles turned white, fighting the urge to fight the pilot for control of the plane. She glanced over toward Artemis, who sat in a similar position, his shoulders tensed as if he were ready to run.

"Suit up," Butler commanded, after reading their coordinates. Immediately Holly and Artemis leapt from their seats, glad to have something else to focus on other than the pitching of the plane. The snowsuits were a stifling comfort, and Holly suddenly felt very small, realizing that she was pitching herself into the open air over the world's tallest mountain.

She recited the song in her head as Butler securely fastened the emergency parachute across her body and slipped her goggles over her head. Not a scrap of skin peeked out, and moments later Artemis looked the same, his worried dichromatic eyes covered by the reflective skydiving goggles.

The jet gave a particularly nasty jerk and Artemis, not accustomed to having to use his balance, tipped over onto Holly with a comical clumsy waving of his snowsuit-covered arms. Had the situation not been so stressful, Holly would have laughed and poked fun, but her stomach lay in her throat, ready to heave everywhere.

"We'll jump on my mark," Butler said before slipping the cover over his face. "I'll give you a countdown of three. Artemis, hold Holly's and my hands, and Holly hold mine too. Should we need the parachutes, I will signal you, but they are for emergency only. The moment we are falling, you need to start singing, Holly, do you understand?"

She nodded, and he slipped the covering over his face, taking both dwarfed hands in his and walking over to the door, releasing Holly's hand to open it. It was flung off its hinges, flooding the cabin with biting clumps of snow. Butler watched his coordinates and then signaled with one finger.

She took a deep breath, trying to ease the bile rising in her throat and looking away from Artemis, who despite all his coverings still managed to look like he was going to pass out.

Two fingers.

Oh, gods, she had looked over the edge of the door and she couldn't even see the mountain through the swirling, tossing snow.

Three fingers.

Butler took her hand and jumped, bringing the group out of the plane and into free fall. For the first moment they seemed to be held aloft, and then the plane was roaring away from them, leaving them alone and vulnerable in the wide open air, falling to their deaths.

_What are you waiting for? Sing!_

Though her voice was lost in her coverings and in the wind, Holly opened her mouth, shakily letting out her prayer, the Song of the Gods floating up above her as they sped toward the ground, the ancient language rising up easily.

"_Ich mililuses, si ka'rux mit migril, ego et mis divlit mia yobis…"_

She closed her eyes to the storm, trying to call up some spark of magic to enhance her song, putting everything she could into it.

"_En exulteo mil nich fon'taine luxt mis leobni dis…"_

Was it her imagination, or had Artemis's hand grown painfully tight on hers? She opened her eyes, feeling sick when she realized she could see the tip of the mountain far below and rising fast.

"_Holta mis negahn rit miliuses, beh atus vir nich'teo…"_

The air was roaring past them, and it seemed like time was speeding up, trying to unfairly beat them in its dangerous game.

"_En exulto, holda mis plixun andrut galtunas shuggenate dis liebenes!"_

She had done it. She had made it through with all of her power. So why were they still falling faster and faster toward the mountaintop, the details in the rocks quickly becoming more and more clear? Terror swept through her. They had made it here, following the rules given, and still the ground was coming for them, sealing their deaths.

Maybe it wasn't real after all.

But then there was a great roar, pushing in on all of their eardrums, and the world was spiraling out of control. Butler drew them in closer, gripping them tightly as the top of Mount Everest split open into an enormous black nothingness, drawing them in with unnatural gravitational force, pulling them faster and faster until it seemed like their very atoms would split apart.

And then the darkness was all around them and they couldn't see anymore, and before they could even think to fight, their hands were ripped from each other's and they were each cast, silently screaming, into their own abyss.

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**P.S.: The Ancient Language is made up. You can't translate it online.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I am so sorry. I won't even try to explain why this took so long because you don't want to hear it. This chapter is fairly short, but the chapter seven, which is literally a page from being done, is over 5000 words. Some of chapter eight has already been written. I will send chapter seven to my wonderful beta, Ru-Doragon, tonight when I am done. Until then, thank you for your patience and for those of you whose messages I received at four in the morning reminding me that people still cared about my work. They motivated me to make a little time to haul my butt through this chapter. **

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**Chapter Six**

Artemis was absolutely terrified.

He could feel himself falling in every direction, his body somehow being ripped into billions of pieces while being compressed into the size of an atom. It wasn't blackness that surrounded him; nothing faced him on every side and inside of him, so completely there that it seemed that _he _was nothing, but at the same time he was everything.

Holly and Butler were nowhere. He tried to feel them with his mind, to probe for them like he had when traveling back from Limbo, but he couldn't find them anywhere. He knew he was screaming, but no sound came out, and he didn't have a body, let alone a mouth. For all he knew, he didn't even exist anymore.

He felt his entity squeeze like he was being forced through a very slim tube and then he exploded into existence, gasping on his hands and knees. His arms gave way and his face crashed into the soft, plush grass underneath, a pleasant earthy smell filling his nostrils.

Artemis looked up, squinting in the clear sunlight, the long, thin strands of grass tickling his face. He was in a clearing littered with wildflowers, surrounded by ancient, twisting trees dripping moss in thick strands. Far beyond, framed by a cloudless sky and a snowy mountain range was what appeared to be a great city of glass spires, twinkling in the sun, twisting and contorting into impossible shapes.

The beauty of Imperium left Artemis breathless for a moment.

Everything was practically blooming with life, and as he sat and watched for a moment, completely captivated, he saw two white doves soaring overhead amongst the plentiful, jewel-like butterflies. He sighed, smiling a bit, and wished he could share an experience as awe-inspiring as this with Butler…

Butler! Where was he? Stumbling to his feet, Artemis looked around, stunned that he had forgotten his bodyguard. And someone else, as well… Holly. She was absent as well. Artemis turned in a full circle, but his compatriots were nowhere to be found. He felt panic dimly twist his stomach.

He tried to think, but his brain felt slow and sluggish.

Artemis felt his eyes narrowing at the deceivingly beautiful landscape before the thought of a trap even crossed his mind. The twinkling of the spires in the distance was no longer welcoming.

_It's a trap_, he finally realized, and it was as if his mind had shattered a barrier. He felt his intelligence flood back in, and he closed his eyes, focusing on ripping himself from the dimension he was in.

It was painful. The first task didn't want to let him go and he felt claws and barbs digging into his skin as he began to peel himself away. His mouth opened in a silent cry of pain and then he was free, cast once more into empty darkness.

It was worse than it had been before. Artemis felt like he was underwater, being thrown carelessly around by the force of rapids, slammed into invisible obstacles and robbed for breath, slowly losing consciousness as his eyes began to close…

And then he was laying flat on his back on the gravelly ground, taking in huge, shuddering breaths that echoed off the sullen, life-devoid landscape that surrounded him. Dead, blackened trees and craggy mountains rose far above him, disappearing into the thick, opaque fog, choked out by the swirling mass of grey. Butler and Holly were nowhere to be seen, and though Artemis again tried to focus, he was eventually forced to accept that this was his destination.

Artemis Fowl sat alone in the mouth of Imperium.

He shuffled through his bag, running over the poem in his mind, dread seeping into his stomach. Unable to find what he wanted, he upended the bag, its contents spilling all over the rocky ground. He scanned the items, his stomach sinking when he realized that his compass was gone, along with the grappling hooks, guns, ropes, and electronics.

_For when entr'ing the endless you'll find less is more…_

Artemis shoved the remaining supplies – namely food and water – back into the bag, rising to his feet and running his hands through his hair. The air was cool but not cold, and he realized that his snowstorm clothing was gone as well, leaving him with only a puffy coat for protection against the elements.

He was in the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by dead, burned forest, the smell of ash and rain hanging in the air. Trying to survey his surroundings, he stepped forward to peer into the trees, but the moment he crossed under overhanging branches he was cast backward as if thrown, landing bodily on his back and robbing him off his air.

"'Where the weak minded souls bring you down at the door,'" he quoted once he had gotten his breath back. "So I need Holly and Butler in order to continue on."

Patience was all he could count on. He could only hope that Holly and Butler hadn't fallen prey to the trap he had almost succumbed to. Crushing down the nervousness that threatened to arise, Artemis crossed back to his bags, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the clearing and waiting for some sort of threat to arise or for his compatriots to appear.

Slowly, time passed. It made Artemis anxious, being unable to track the hours. There didn't appear to be a sun, or if there was it was concealed by the thick swath of clouds that colored the sky, darkening until it disappeared behind the tree line. He paced endlessly. If Butler and Holly didn't make it through, they would be stuck in Limbo and Artemis stuck in the first task forever.

Just as he was beginning to consider ways to rashly break the barriers, the wind picked up, sending the dusty dirt covering the ground into a whirlwind, pushing Artemis to the edge of the clearing, his eyes burning from the debris. The middle of the clearing was obscured, and a deep roar filled the valley. A light flashed and then the wind stopped, the dust hanging in the air for a moment before falling straight down, revealing a panting Butler scrambling to his feet, throwing off his backpacks and looking wildly in a circle until his eyes found Artemis.

"Thank God!" he cried, crossing the clearing in four long strides and checking Artemis over for injuries. "Are you all right?"

Artemis held up a hand, stopping Butler in his tracks. "Halt, old friend. How do you know this is not simply another level of the task before you?"

Surprise washed over Butler's face. He had obviously not given it a second thought once he had seen Artemis safe and sound. Quite out of character.

"It seems that this place changes your mind," Artemis warned him. "Force yourself to think outside the restrictions it creates or we will all die here."

Butler finally took a good look around. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Hours. I cannot gauge the exact time, as all of our resources besides food and water have disappeared." Artemis followed Butler as he sprinted to the bags, swearing under his breath as he accepted Artemis's words as truth. "We cannot leave this clearing until Holly appears."

"Holly isn't here?" Butler asked needlessly, looking around to confirm his rhetorical question.

"No. My guess is that she is still trapped in the first task."

"That was the first task?" Butler asked, sitting down next to the bags, resigned to wait.

"'Already you've beaten the first of the tasks,'" Artemis quoted. "I would hypothesize that we already have, but that Holly is trapped."

"And we can't go on until she finds her way out."

Artemis inclined his head. "Exactly."

Butler frowned, looking over the tree line, his back rigid, prepared to be constantly on the lookout. "I don't like this, Artemis," he said. "This place doesn't feel right." He paused, and looked down at his hand, which rested on the dirt. "It has… It has a heartbeat."

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "I highly doubt —"

"No, no, feel it!" Butler took Artemis's hand and placed it on the ground. Artemis was about to unleash a scathing comment when he felt it, just barely; a faint thrumming, like the pulse of blood cells rushing through veins. Artemis took his hand away, irrationally put on edge. Butler's eyes met his own.

"No," the bodyguard said, his voice low, as if something was listening. "I don't like this place at all."

"There's no turning back," Artemis said briskly. "We can't leave now that we're here — and in any case, knowing that the world could potentially end, would you want to leave anyway?"

"Of course not, especially if you insisted on staying."

Artemis inclined his head, mollified, and relaxed into a cross-legged position. "All we can do now is wait, old friend."

Butler nodded his consent and they lapsed into companionable silence for a long time, simply observing the dark, dead trees caging them, and the faraway mountains covered with gray snow. There was no sign of life, not even the occasional bird overhead or rustle in the dirt. No wind stirred through the trees. All that seemed to live was the heartbeat constantly thrumming through the ground.

"Artemis," Butler said after perhaps an hour or so had passed. "I'm worried about you."

The boy looked toward him, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever are you talking about, Butler?"

The bodyguard shifted, looking his charge straight in the eyes with an expression that let Artemis know he meant business. "I'm worried about you and your father."

Artemis looked away, his jaw jutting out slightly. "I have no current inclination or intention to speak of him."

"Artemis, please. If you're not going to speak, then listen." When Artemis made no move to reply, Butler continued on. "I think that when you return home, you should make it your priority to fix things with him."

Artemis couldn't seem to withhold his silence and glared at his bodyguard. "I absolutely refuse to try and "fix things," as you put it, until he rectifies his behavior."

"You know your father," Butler said, almost lecturing. "He's just as stubborn as you, if not more so. This isn't going to be fixed unless one of you gives in."

"It will have to be him, then," Artemis spat. "I am not at fault in this situation."

"I know that, Artemis, but you can't always have justice."

"Do not preach to me."

Butler sighed through his nose. "I'm trying to help you."

"And you're failing," Artemis said, his voice sharp enough to cut through his bodyguard's skin. "This is the end of the discussion, Butler, do you understand?"

"But —"

"You are the employee in this situation! I order you to _stop talking about him!"_

A terrible, tense silence followed his outburst. Artemis hadn't played the employee card in years. Not since his father had come home from Russia. The bodyguard looked away, the remark smarting at his carefully guarded feelings. Artemis looked the opposite direction, torn between seething and apologizing.

In the end, he chose neither.

The wind had barely begun to moan before Butler grabbed Artemis from under the arms, carrying him bodily toward the edge of the clearing, placing him down as far as they could go without being thrown backwards by the invisible wall. Artemis threw his arm in front of his face as the wind howled louder than it had before, throwing dirt and dust into the air in a stinging, lashing cyclone.

It all congealed into a very tight column, going so fast that it was a solid, roaring column of brown. Artemis lowered his arm, watching it as the howl grew so loud that his eardrums began to ache. And then, all at once, it stopped, hanging in midair for a few seconds before whooshing outward. It struck Artemis before he could close his eyes, sending him to the ground with a yelp of pain. There was a sound almost like a prolonged scream as the debris swept out, alerting Imperium of their presence.

The barrier at the edge of the meadow vanished, flooding the empty meadow with the sounds of harsh birdcalls and creaking tree limbs.

Artemis blinked the grit from his watering eyes, looking toward the center of the clearing. Holly lay on her stomach, coughing raggedly, her face coated in sweat. Her eyes were closed but her forehead was clenched as if she were in pain. Artemis got to his knees to follow Butler, who was approaching her slowly.

Holly dragged herself up onto her knees and elbows, swayed gently, and promptly vomited.

Butler was at her side in an instant, a hand on her back as she heaved violently, emptying her stomach onto the ground. When she was finished she collapsed to the side, breathing hard. He picked her up and brought her to the edge of the meadow, cradling her in his arms.

Holly shook, pale underneath her normal caramel complexion. Artemis placed a hand on her forehead. He took his hand away covered in her sweat, but she had no fever of any sort.

"Holly," he said gently. "Holly, can you hear me?"

Slowly, she opened her wide hazel eyes, staring at him as though she were in shock.

"What's the matter?" Butler rumbled. "What happened?"

Holly quivered for a moment more, and then swallowed and dared to speak. "My magic," she whispered. "It's _gone_."

* * *

**If you're interested in my narcissism, the reason it took so long for me to write this was because I was in two musicals at once while dealing with brutal hits from school and dealing with an injury. In other good news, the doctor says my thumb is not broken.**

**I don't say it often, but please, _please_ review.  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Pushing the rating on this one... if you're sexually squeamish, skip over the second section.**

**

* * *

Chapter Seven**

Artemis felt his stomach drop. Slowly, panic began to creep over Holly's face as the implication of her words began to reach her. There was a moment of tense silence, filled only with unfamiliar bird calls and the eerie creaking of trees, before Artemis let out a long breath, letting his head flop forward for a moment.

"I see," he said, and pushed himself up off the ground, pacing. "I was counting on your magic being here. This is a huge problem, you must understand. The chance that at least one of us will be grievously injured is, without a doubt, nearly one hundred percent certain. Without your magic…"

Holly gulped audibly.

"If you have no magic, how is it you can still understand English?" Artemis said, turning back to face her.

A strange expression crossed Holly's face. "Artemis… don't you realize that you're not _speaking_ English?"

The genius blinked, thrown. After a moment of thought, he realized it was true; without even thinking about it, he and Butler had been conversing in Gnommish. They exchanged dark glances, further unsettled.

"Where are we?" Holly asked.

Artemis frowned. "I don't know," he admitted. "Obviously this place is magical, and therefore knocked out of our own dimension. I would have to surmise that this is the very beginning of the second task, as we have just breached the first. Speaking of, are you feeling well enough to explain what took you so long?"

Holly froze.

* * *

She woke up with a nose full of grass.

Slowly, she let her body acclimate to the surroundings, feeling the warmth of the sun on her back and the wind tickling her hair. There weren't any immediate dangers, it seemed – actually, she felt better than she could ever remember. Her muscles were completely relaxed, waves of sleepy pleasure radiating through her body from an unseen source. As she became more aware, she heard the burbling of water nearby. She raised her head, her eyelids heavy, and looked around.

She was in paradise.

She was lying naked on a bed of the softest grass she had ever felt, alone in deep, ancient woods at a bend in the calm river beside her. Golden sunlight peered through the leaves in thin chinks, dappling her skin and the mossy, twisted trees. Peaceful silence pressed down on her, and she closed her eyes, content to rest.

She couldn't for the life of her remember how she had gotten there.

She drifted in and out of consciousness for a long time, sinking more and more into this mysterious place.

There was a rustling sound behind her and her eyes flew open. She was not inclined to cover her naked body; somehow she knew she was safe here, and that whatever had made the noise was a good thing.

When she saw the man sitting with his face in the shadows, she couldn't help but stare for a moment. His skin was turned golden in the sunlight, and he sat in a seat made from the curling roots of a tree, open and waiting for her, as naked as she was.

She found herself moving toward him.

It was the best love she had ever made, hot and sweaty and passionate, dappled by the sun and shaded by the emerald green of the surrounding woods. She could never quite see his face; a deep shadow surrounded it, almost wiping it out of existence. She couldn't bring herself to care, however, because his hands were on her body, and her hands were in his hair, bringing him forward for a slow, deep kiss…

But when she pulled his face into the sunlight, his familiar eyes flashed with a golden sheen, and she screamed so loud that the forest shook with it.

* * *

"Holly?" Artemis snapped right in front of her face.

She started and looked away immediately. "I don't… really want to talk about it."

He scowled, crouching next to her. "It's vitally important that I know. It could be a clue to the way things are pieced together here."

Holly shook her head firmly, looking to Butler for help. "I'm not talking about it, Artemis. It's something that I don't want to go into."

Artemis thought for a moment. "Sex, then."

Holly flinched. "How —?"

"Genius," Artemis said by means of explanation, standing. "An uncomfortable topic in a paradisiacal situation… for an adult woman who has never had a partner, it is simple to relate it to sex." He turned away, preparing to speak to Butler.

The elf flushed angrily, clenching her fists as she rose to her feet. "What makes you think I've never had a partner, Mud Boy?"

Artemis did a double take, his expression dumbfounded. "Er… sorry, what?"

Holly jabbed her index finger into his sternum, head height for her. "You're accusing me of being a virgin, Fowl."

Artemis blinked. Behind him, Butler gave a little huff equivalent to laughter. "Ah… yes," Artemis said slowly. "Your records have never shown you living with another elf…"

Holly pushed him into Butler. "I'm almost a hundred years old, Fowl. I don't needto _live_ with a partner to get some action." She turned on her heel and stalked off toward the pile of bags, leaving Artemis standing dumbstruck next to his bodyguard.

"Snap out of it," Butler advised after a few seconds of Artemis's mouth hanging dumbly open. His charge wisely snapped his mouth closed, shaking his head minutely to clear his mind.

"Whatever I was expecting," Artemis murmured to himself, "it was not _that_."

On the other side of the clearing, Holly had discovered her near-empty bags with a few choice swear words.

"I had so much gadgetry in here!" she howled, furiously shaking one upside down, nothing but a few ration bars and canteens falling out. "D'Arvit, this could not be going any greater, could it?"

Butler, who had made his way over to the bags, patted her on the shoulder in means of comforting, and tossed the few remainders of her stashed supplies into the lighter of his two bags. "We're setting out," he said, slinging the heavier one over his shoulder and handing the lighter one to Holly. "Keep your eyes and ears open. This place is more dangerous than it lets on."

"But which way do we go?" Holly asked sourly, shouldering her own pack.

"I would assume the only way that has a trail," Artemis said, looking the opposite direction. The other two turned to see what he was looking at, surprised to see a thin, dirt-paved trail snaking into the thick, dead woods on the other side of the clearing. Holly and Butler exchanged a dark glance.

"I don't like this," Butler rumbled.

"We don't have much of a choice," Artemis pointed out. "There is no other way out of this clearing.

It was true; as they spoke, thick, evil-looking brambles were threading their way up the edge of the clearing, their thick, nasty thorns gleaming dully in the muted light. The only spot left free was the sinister trail ahead.

"All right then," Holly said, hitching her backpack up. "Let's do it."

"I don't know…" Butler protested, but Artemis silenced him.

"It is the only foreseeable way to go ahead," he said. "I suspect the brambles that surround us are destructive in some way. As our supply of wings is gone, there is no way to get over the trees. All that we can do is follow the path they give us."

"It could very easily be a trap," Butler said.

"Yes," Artemis replied. "It is very likely to be a trap. This whole _place _is a trap. But the gods would not have made this place impossible to get through —only extremely difficult."

Butler did not look pleased, but they began to walk, Holly in front, scanning the dark woods for threats, Artemis in the middle, and Butler following very closely behind.

The trail was extremely narrow and only about six feet tall, built for someone Holly's size to walk comfortably through. Humans were not mean to enter Imperium. Artemis, who was not fully-grown and small for his age anyway, had no trouble walking upright, but Butler had to walk in a crouch and turn his shoulders every which way so as not to touch the dead, blackened vegetation.

The path was not flat, but sloped gently upward, like they were walking out of a gentle crater. The farther they walked, the more the plants seemed to close in on them, sinking feelings of claustrophobia blooming in their stomachs. Gradually, the canopy of dead tree limbs grew so thick and matted that it was as if the forest had faded into night. This fact was proved wrong by the occasional chink of dull grey sky that peeked through the tangled wood.

Each one was on edge, alert for any possible threats, but although hundreds of hidden birds screeched and the dead underbrush rustled with small creatures, none of them saw any signs of life.

They walked for what seemed like ages, the hours blending together until Holly realized that the path had been subtly sloping downward for quite some time, and that the trees had been thinning. Not too long after this revelation, they turned a bend and discovered a clearing. Judging by the dried pool of vomit in the middle, it was the exact same clearing they had left hours before.

"What the _hell_?" said Holly, describing Artemis and Butler's thoughts so perfectly that neither of them felt further inclined to exclaim. Artemis walked past her, observing the clearing with a critical eye.

"I am completely baffled," he admitted. "We've come full circle, and yet…" His eyes narrowed. "If we have come full circle, then we would have noticed joining with the beginning of the path, because there was only one exit to the clearing."

"Is this the second task, then?" Butler asked, moving to join his charge, looking over his shoulder suspiciously.

"No," Artemis said. "The second task is a matter of trust. This is simply a difficulty made to bridge the first task to the second task." He looked up at his bodyguard. "How much water do we have?"

"Not enough to keep giving that much effort to such little progress," Butler rumbled.

"I see," Artemis said. "We hiked for hours. Let us all take a drink to clear our heads." They gathered around, and each took a small drink from one of the bottles.

"Now what?" Holly asked, wiping her mouth.

Artemis took a step back observing the leftover footprints in the clearing. "We left there," he said finally, pointing toward a spot in the brambles directly across the clearing from where they had just entered.

"How do you know that?" Holly asked, doubtful.

Artemis ignored her, looking up at the thick grey clouds. He turned around a couple of times, squinting, and then oriented himself back in the clearing, gesturing to a seemingly random point in the brambles. "We have to go that way."

There was a moment of silence as Holly and Butler exchanged glances. "Artemis," his bodyguard said slowly. "There's no path there."

"Yes, there is," Artemis said breezily, and began to stride toward the brambles.

"Artemis, stop!" Butler commanded, seizing his charge by the shoulder and halting his progress. "We don't know what defenses those brambles hold. They could kill you."

Artemis gave him a scathing look. "A little faith, please."

"I have faith in you, Artemis, but not enough to let you walk into a magical, dangerous wall of thorny plants."

"Do you want to be stuck in this clearing until our food and water runs out?" Artemis snapped.

"Let him try, Butler," Holly said softly.

"I'll go in your place," Butler said by means of compromise.

"No," Artemis said firmly. "We need you more than anyone on this team. You've got the best chance of making it through here out of the three of us."

"You're the one who's gotten us through two obstacles already," Holly reminded him.

"But I'm weak," Artemis replied. "Butler's weathered near-impossible feats and he's not exactly dull, is he? You're strong and smart as well, Holly. I will go first, and if no harm comes to me, you two are to follow." He looked up at his bodyguard. They shared a moment of silent communication before Butler let him go. Artemis walked up the brambles, looked back once to make sure he had the absolute proper position, and then stepped forward up to the thorns.

With a small explosion of sparks, he vanished.

Both Holly and Butler leapt forward, panicked. Holly reclaimed her rationality first and threw out an arm, hitting Butler hard enough to remind him that he had a brain.

"He's gone…" Butler breathed, craning his neck in hopes that Artemis had somehow tricked them and was standing beyond the brambles with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Holly said, crossing her arms and staring at the point Artemis had disappeared from. "Calm down. We need to think like civilized fairies here."

At Butler's look, she rolled her eyes. "Civilized _people_, then. My bad. Now. Why did Artemis choose that spot to walk into?"

Holly paced forward, planting herself just before the edge of the clearing and turning around, scrutinizing the space. "I'm at the halfway point between where the two trails were," she realized. "It's like a graphing plane…"

"Or a compass," Butler interjected. "That's why he was looking at the sky…"

They looked at each other, hoping they were right.

"I'm going after him," Butler said, striding forward.

"Butler, wait —"

But with another explosion of sparks, Butler was gone as well.

Holly gave a soft howl of frustration, shifting her weight from foot to foot. As a person, she knew she was inclined to go, but the LEP officer in her wanted to find a different, more sure way of doing things. She had gotten a stern talking-to from Trouble after her most recent Recon mission. It had gone well, she thought — at least, nobody had died and she had gotten the job done. But an entire village had had to be mindwiped. Foaly had worked himself into the ground, driving her conscious to feel guilty about her hotheaded decisions.

"Screw it," she grumbled. "I am who I am."

And so Holly too stepped forward, disappearing in an explosion of sparks.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in a much small clearing in a very green deciduous forest that reminded her uncomfortably of her first experience in Imperium.

"Very nice of you to join us, Holly."

She turned, and was relieved to find Artemis and Butler standing behind her, alive and well. Slowly, she breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Now what?" she asked.

Artemis nodded over to a trail leading up at a steady incline. "We hike."

Holly gave him a look. "Really? After what just happened?"

"Look at the path, Holly," Artemis said, his voice very patronizing. "It looks far more natural than the last path — see, rocks and roots texturing the ground, other plants spilling onto the trail. This is no trick. Just the beginning of a journey."

Holly rolled her eyes. "If you're so sure, oh great philosopher." Artemis ignored her, stepping forward to lead the group into the woods.

They began to walk, in the same careful order as before. While this leg of their journey was not so threatening, it was much more strenuous, especially for Artemis. The path wound along the base of a wooded mountain, steadily rising higher and higher. At times they would catch a glimpse of the valley, growing smaller and smaller as they rose.

The temperature was cool but not cold, and all three hikers tied their jackets around their waists. It would have been pleasant, if it weren't for the constant reminder that they were in a place where anything could happen, good or bad.

"Check it out," Holly said after a while, and pointed through a gap in the plush pine trees. Artemis and Butler followed the track of her finger, observing the two birds, one bright green and the other a shocking red.

"Yes, Holly, those are birds," Artemis said sarcastically.

"Shut it, Mud Boy," she said. "You live on the surface. You get to see birds all the time."

"They're Scarlet Tanagers," Artemis said, ignoring her. "A male and a female — most likely mates. The male's coat is only red during mating season, and at all other times retains an olive green tone that —"

"That's great," Holly said. "Nobody cares."

"Don't you have any desire to learn?" Artemis sighed.

Holly looked at him over her shoulder. "Of course I like to learn Artemis. For instance, today I learned how smashing you look in that getup." She smirked. "It suits you."

Artemis looked down and frowned, his cheeks tingeing pink a little. For the purpose of undergoing a rough journey, he had donned a pair of thick cargo pants, a black flannel button-down shirt, and — he shuddered every time he looked at them — a pair of heavy-duty hiking boots that Butler had dug out from…somewhere.

"Don't get used to it," he snapped.

"For God's sake, you two," Butler said from behind. "You've been at each other's throats since we got to this place. Can you please just give it a rest?"

Both Artemis and Holly blinked, thrown.

"We have?" she asked.

"Yes," Butler said, exasperated. "You don't have to listen to yourselves, so you have no idea how annoying it is to hear you bicker all the time."

"I suppose, now that I think about it, that we have been arguing a bit more constantly than usual," Artemis mused. "It feels strange… almost like I'm compelled to fight." He frowned. "I don't like that. It's like the involuntary use of Gnommish. Imperium is playing with our minds."

At which point he promptly tripped over a rock, stumbling to regain his balance. Ahead, Holly stifled a snicker, and he glared at her back.

"I expect more maturity from you," Butler said, for only him to hear. "Holly is very easily emotionally swayed, and you need to keep your tongue in check to keep Imperium from driving her crazy." Artemis tensed and nodded curtly, looking out over the valley through a brief opening in the trees to distract himself.

"There's a river down there," he said suddenly. "There wasn't one before."

Holly and Butler looked, and sure enough, far below, was a wide, gorgeous river drifting lazily through the twisting route of the valley.

"It probably came from around the side of the last ridge we passed," Butler suggested, and Artemis nodded slowly.

"Still," he said. "I can't help but think that that happened on purpose."

"We'll see," Butler said, gently nudging his charge forward. "For now, let's make progress."

There didn't seem to be night or day in Imperium. The sky remained a thick swath of clouds that bore down on them, cloaking the top halves of the mountains. Far below, the river followed them, wide and blue.

They made camp when Artemis's feet began to drag. Butler found a little alcove and the trio rolled up their jackets for pillows. Artemis lay with his back to his companions and, after a few moments of fidgeting around on the ground ,completely conked out" as Butler went to gather kindling, leaving Holly on guard.

She sat against the side of the niche, knees to her chest. Instead of keeping her eyes open for threats, she watched the boy sleeping on the other side of their little camp, eyes flicking to his hair, shining dully in the grey light, and following down the curve of his back, then around his legs to his feet. Holly couldn't say he looked peaceful — when did he ever? — but there was less weight in his relaxed posture, as if something had been released when he had passed out on the ground. She had to wonder how much his relationship with his father was really hurting him.

After a while, Holly noticed the twitches. His feet moved slightly every few seconds, like his toes were jerking inside his shoes. Curious, she released her legs and crawled forward, peeking at his hands. Sure enough, his fingers clenched and unclenched, spasming in his sleep. His brow was taut, and his eyes rolled around under his eyelids like he was furiously dreaming.

Holly placed a hand on his hair, in a vain effort to calm him. Distantly, she wished for her magic so that she could probe his mind and see what was really the matter…

"I thought you were supposed to be keeping watch."

Holly jumped away from Artemis, scuttling back to her earlier position. Butler stood in the entrance to the crevice, an amused little smile on his face. A great pile of kindling lay cradled in one arm, and a pile of sticks and dry brush in the other.

"Er…" she said.

"It's okay," he replied, setting down his load. "I'm glad to know you were keeping an eye on him."

Butler prepared the fire and lit it with a small pack of matches — one of the few things Imperium hadn't taken from them. For a while, they sat silently and watched the flames. Neither of them realized the sky was darkening until it was pitch black, throwing them both off.

"I thought —" Holly started.

"It's trying to throw us off," Butler said. "Irregular cycles can be murder on your subconscious."

Holly nodded, curling tighter into a ball. "I wonder what things are like," she said. "Back home."

"Probably chaotic," Butler said. "I would imagine Trouble is furious right now."

Holly huffed a laugh. "Probably. But a part of him probably applauds what we did. Would you ever guess that he used to be a rebel?"

"I guessed when I first heard his name."

Holly smiled, keeping her eyes on the slowly burning logs. "Trouble Kelp. We grew up together, you know."

Butler made a non-committal sound of acknowledgment, and they fell into silence again. Gradually, Holly's gaze drifted over to Artemis, who now lay completely still, the firelight flickering in his hair.

"You love him, don't you?" Butler asked.

"Yeah," Holly said softly, not even thinking about her answer. "Yeah, I do."

After a moment she realized what she had said and she turned to refute her answer before realizing why she had said it so easily. She so readily trusted the man beside her that she could tell him anything. Butler gave her a little half smile before looking back into the flames.

"I hate to say it," he said quietly. "But I think Artemis thinks of you more as a mother figure than someone… like that."

Holly snorted. "Of course he does," she said bluntly. "Making cracks about me supposedly being a virgin like that."

"Oh, come on, you know he didn't mean it maliciously. A genius he may be, but he can be surprisingly naive. As you should be accustomed to, Artemis doesn't really have a filter when it comes to touchy subjects."

Holly laughed softly.

"Get some rest," Butler suggested. "Another long day ahead of us. I'll keep watch."

"You need sleep too," Holly chided.

Butler waved it away. "I was trained to go without sleep for a week. I'll be fine."

Holly shrugged scooted more toward where Artemis lay sleeping, and then slumped onto the ground. Within minutes, she was dead to the world.

* * *

When Holly woke up a few hours later, her companions were packing up camp, and it was daytime again.

"D'Arvit," she grumbled, rubbing her eyes. "This sun cycle is really screwing with my head."

"No time to worry about that now," Artemis said, throwing her an energy bar. "We've got more hiking to do." He glanced uneasily down at the river, tapping the wall of the crevice rapidly without realizing he was doing it.

Imperium switched to night within the hour, and they hiked in the dark. Without the moon it would have been impossible, but from behind the clouds it emitted enough glow that the travelers could see the trail well enough. By the time a few hours had passed, it was day again.

Abruptly the trail began to slope sharply downward, and the hikers were forced to don gloves and use their hands to half-slide down the side of the mountain. Artemis's suspicions had been correct; after hours of descending, the trail ended at the riverbank.

It was a beautiful, majestic sight, so wide it could have almost been called a lake had there not been a visible current. It was pure, gorgeous water, blue but clear all the way to the bottom. Framed by the mountains, the water looked peaceful and inviting. But one thing marred the beauty.

Three identical men stood waiting by the shore. They were obviously indigenous, with dark skin and sleek black hair pulled back. They did not blink, and their skin was almost shimmery, as if it were a screen. Through it, their bones could be seen as if they were nothing but skeletons with a window screen over them.

"They're _naked_," Holly said with distaste.

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Native people often are. We only mind because our culture demands it."

"It's odd," Butler noted, squinting at the nearest one. "They're not just thin… I can literally see their bones."

"Gross," Holly said, wrinkling her nose.

"This must be the second task," Artemis said. "Though I don't quite understand what the matter of trust is."

"They're humans," Holly replied. "This place was made for fairies. It knows our cultural disliking for humans so…" She shrugged. "Whatever we have to do obviously involves trusting these guys."

Artemis scrutinized the men carefully before taking a step towards them. "Hello, fellow men," he said evenly. "My name is Artemis Fowl the Second and I trust you."

The man on the right reached out a hand and Artemis readily took it. A moment passed before Butler stepped forward.

"I trust you," he said. The center native offered his hand, and Butler was admitted to the group.

Holly swallowed before stepping forward. "I… trust you."

The man did not offer his hand.

"C'mon. I trust you?"

"He knows you don't mean it," Artemis said. Holly shot him a dirty look. "You have to _mean _the words you say, Holly."

"I trust you, okay?"

"Not just your infliction," Butler said.

"Do you trust _me_, Holly?" Artemis asked.

"I… yeah, of course I do."

"And do you trust my judgment?"

Holly blinked, confused, and shifted her weight. "You know I do. If I didn't I would have died 20 times by now."

Artemis gave her a satisfied smirk. "If you trust me and my judgment, know that I trust my well-being to these men, and that you should do the same."

Holly debated for a moment before turning to the one remaining native and saying firmly, "I trust you."

The skeleton man offered his hand. It was huge and rough compared to Holly's, and his grip was just a little too tight for her liking.

The guides led the three travelers to the river, where three shaky-looking rafts made of tree branches that definitely had not been there before were tethered. On each raft was a basket of strange-looking fruit, enticingly delicious against the rippling water.

"Don't even touch those," Butler muttered to his companions, gesturing to the baskets. Artemis and Holly nodded, and each native took a rough paddle from the riverbank and took a raft, standing stoic once they were on.

"We are to join them, I believe," Artemis said, and they did so.

Once on board, the natives untied the rafts and pushed off into the river, paddling slowly with the quiet burble of the current. It was a while before they reached the center of the river, what with it being so wide, but once they were there, a powerful drowsiness came over the three travelers, and all at once they slumped onto the grating bark of the raft, asleep so quickly that none of them had even seen it coming.

* * *

Artemis became aware of the pounding first.

He blinked slowly, sleepily, feeling sluggish and unresponsive. What was that – that roar, that ferocious booming sound echoing off the mountainsides? It sounded familiar, but his brain refused to place it… for some reason, however, it reminded him of falling, of crashing and burning and drowning in a watery grave…

Artemis looked up at his guide, confused. "Where are we?" he asked, or at least, he _thought_ he asked. His tongue didn't want to work that well.

His guide looked straight ahead as always, his face expressionless.

Artemis finally developed the sense to turn around and see for himself.

They were still in the valley, drifting between the two ridges of trees, but they were moving faster. Holly and Butler were roughly even with his raft, still sound asleep. Artemis tried to focus, looking ahead, and was utterly perplexed for a moment when he saw that the river disappeared ahead.

"River disappears…" he murmured. "The _pounding_…" Beginning to feel frustrated with his body's lack of function, he leaned over the side of the raft and dunked his head into the ice-cold river. Underneath, he could hear the churning and roar echoing twice as loud.

"Waterfall!" he gasped as he surfaced, his hair sticking to his face. He was himself again, and he turned to Butler and Holly again, shouting their names, but neither of them stirred from their sleep. Desperate, he took two of the mysterious fruits from the baskets and lobbed them at his companions. The one that he had aimed at Holly missed by several feet, but Butler was large enough that Artemis's projectile clocked him on the shoulder.

Butler's bodyguard training kicked in immediately. He sat up, alert and ready to fight, until his eyes rested on Artemis, who was calling his name above the roar of the water and pointing at the waterfall, which was drawing closer. Butler understood immediately and chucked a fruit at Holly. This time, it hit her square in the stomach, awakening her with a groan of irritation.

"Tell her to dunk her head under the surface!" Artemis called to Butler, and Holly sat up, as groggy as he had been. "Holly, dunk you head!"

"Huh?" she asked, looking up at him, bleary-eyed.

"Dunk your head!" Butler bellowed, and, utterly confused, Holly did so. She came up gasping, looking at the waterfall with terrified eyes.

"Eliminate your guide!" Artemis yelled. "Take their paddles and steer for shore!"

"Artemis, look out!" Butler bellowed.

The native grabbed him from behind, trying to force him off and into the now-heaving water. Artemis reacted out of pure surprise, throwing is elbow back into the man's ribs. He grunted, but kept his hold on the boy, and they struggled.

Across the river, Butler had easily thrown his guide off the raft, where he had disintegrated immediately into nothing. Holly's competitor was a full three feet taller than her, and so she fought for a moment before digging a shoulder into his stomach, heaving him bodily off the raft. He too disappeared when he hit the water. Both Holly and Butler began to paddle toward Artemis, desperate to help him before he was thrown into the water.

Artemis pushed the man with all his might, and he began to fall, but not before the man latched on to his collar.

"Artemis!" Holly heard herself yell, but it was too late.

The man went down, dragging Artemis with him. They hit the water with a painful splash, the native disintegrating the moment he touched the river. Artemis resurfaced almost immediately, teeth chattering, and grabbed wildly for the raft. He missed it by a good three feet, and before he could try again, he had been sucked under. This time he didn't come back up.

"Butler, get to shore!" Holly shouted before taking a huge breath and diving in after him.

The water was colder than she had thought it would be. It hit her skin and sucked the heat from her body almost instantly, freezing her veins. Holly gritted her teeth, squinting against the water rushing by, and spotted Artemis almost immediately. He was near the bottom, struggling to reach the surface again, but the current forced him down into the rocks.

Holly reached him almost too easily, wrapping her arms around his chest from behind and kicking off the rocks. The current was almost like a troll sitting on top of them, forcing them down and closer to the waterfall. She yanked, trying to pull Artemis up, and they moved sideways, closer to the shore. She could see the waterfall looming closer, a deep pounding beginning to echo in her ears.

It was a race to see which came first; waterfall, shore, or loss of consciousness. Holly pushed them sideways, Artemis doing his best to aid her, but his movements were growing weaker. She herself was starting to feel dizzy.

Twenty feet from the edge of the waterfall, Holly's hand touched the shore.

But it was like a smooth stone wall. Fingers scrabbling, she tried in vain to find purchase, but she couldn't hold on to anything. Part of the wall she managed to grab crumbled, and the waterfall grew ever closer, sucking her in like a black hole spilling over the edge of a cliff.

Lungs burning, Holly felt her hand clutch around sand and gravel, and she kicked frantically against the current, searching for a tree root, a branch, something, anything, but nothing came. Artemis was no longer moving against her chest, no longer helping her kick away from the waterfall, as still as the dead in the murderous water, and she felt despair sink into her pores, dragging her down, down to the bottom of the beautiful clear river to join the many who'd died there before them.

There were only a few feet left until they plunged to death.

A searing pain ripped across her scalp, and then her head was breaking the water, strong hands pulling her out of the roiling river by her hair. Gasping and choking, she felt herself cast upon the shore, some huge, urgent figure detangling the limp boy from her arms, saying something she couldn't quite make out; her ears were clogged with water.

When she was able to refocus on her surroundings, oxygen returning sight to her eyes, Holly was met by a gut-wrenching sight. Butler bent over Artemis, pumping on his chest and breathing into his mouth, his movements quickly growing more and more vital the longer Artemis stayed still and quiet. Holly dragged herself over to him, fingers shaking as they brushed the dripping strands of black hair away from the cold, pale forehead, whispering in vain to the boy on the beach – no, not the boy, the corpse.

Because Artemis Fowl wasn't breathing. And by indication of the tears cascading over Butler's cheekbones as he gave CPR, he never would again.

* * *

**So, ending on that happy note... Guess who's writing a nooooovel?**


	8. Chapter 8

**This has been sitting my poor beta's queue for almost two weeks, I believe, and she has been so busy that she was never able to attend to it, so this chapter is going up unbetaed. If you get a chance, send poor Ru-Doragon some love or cookies or something. The poor girl's working herself to death right now. Other than that, I apologize for the delay. This was a difficult chapter for me, personally, to write. The next chapter, which was, contrastingly, very easy and quick for me to write, has been sent of to Ru to edit when she finally gets a scrap of spare time, so it should be up fairly soon.

* * *

**

**Chapter Eight**

Artemis's body jerked sickeningly with each pump.

Butler slammed his hands into his charge's chest again and again, refusing to let go, refusing to believe that this child he had protected since birth was dead. Holly's hands lay useless on the boy's cheeks, no magic pulsing from her fingers to expel the water from his lungs, to restore a rosy flush in those blue-tinted cheeks.

With an almighty spasm, Artemis's eyes flew open his chest constricted almost violently as the first wave of water exploded from his lips like a geyser. Immediately, Butler flipped him over, pounding on his back until the water was flowing freely from Artemis's mouth, imitating the waterfall they had just escaped until he was no longer spewing, just coughing and heaving in Butler's arms. When his breathing had calmed some, he slumped, exhausted, against his bodyguard, limbs splaying as if his muscles had completely atrophied.

Holly held his hand until he sank into unconsciousness, utterly spent. Once he had peacefully stilled, his chest rising and falling steadily, she looked up to Butler, who was wiping the tears from his cheeks.

"Are you okay?" she whispered, afraid to wake Artemis from his fragile slumber.

"Fine," he replied shortly. He stood, carrying Artemis in his arms. "We should move on."

Holly had barely risen to join him when the deciduous riverbanks disappeared, replaced with a bright, scorching heat that caused Holly's hands to fly up and cover her face from the sun. Her feet, suddenly bare, were almost instantly burned by the sun-baked sand she stood upon, and almost as instantly she became aware of the fact that she was naked. A fleeting, mortified glance told her that Butler and Artemis were as well, and that she was standing in the brightest, most endless desert that she had ever seen.

Squeezing her eyes closed, she turned away from Butler, who stood stiffly facing the opposite direction. Her burning feet made it impossible to stand still, and she alternated from foot to foot. Already she could feel her sensitive fairy skin blistering in the light of…

"Wait, are there _four _suns?" she asked, forgetting her embarrassment for a fleeting second.

"Our supplies are gone," Butler said by means of response.

"What do you mean?" she asked, still facing the other way.

"You lost your pack to the river," he said, his voice grim. "Yours had more food than mine, but my pack had more water and our cold-weather gear. And it's disappeared right off my back."

"We're in the desert without water?" Holly said, dread sinking into her skin. Butler's stony silence was answer enough for her.

Holly wanted to stop the sweat that was already coating her skin, evaporating into the air in a great waste of water. It was so hot that the air seemed to scald her lungs, making breathing thick and difficult. Her hair already stuck to her forehead and neck, and she wished that she could pull her short locks up.

"Holly," Butler said, and she could almost feel the awkwardness radiating from him, giving her a big hint on what he was about to say.

"Yeah?" she asked, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"We're going to have to see each other eventually," he said, reluctant to speak. "We should just… get it over with."

Holly felt herself blush, and she crossed her arms uncomfortably. It shouldn't be this much of an issue. There had been so few women in the Academy that the locker rooms had been unisex, and after a few days the new cadets would stop visibly reacting to the opposite sex's anatomy. But those were mostly just coworkers, and they were all fairies. These were her best friends, and they were human. Not to mention that one of them was unconscious.

"Uh… yeah," she said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. The end of the world was imminent. That was what was important. Not genitalia.

But the idea of seeing Butler naked made her slightly queasy. And the idea of seeing _Artemis_ naked… She shook her head to banish the thought, a drop of sweat sliding off her nose.

"Holly?"

"Turn on three?" she squeaked.

"One… two… three."

Holly turned around, arms crossed, gaze purposefully fixed a few feet above Butler's head.

Her peripheral vision revealed a lot, obviously, but she refused to look straight at the naked man in front of her. Butler held Artemis so that his charge was curled into his large chest, concealing him from Holly's vision, for which she was grateful.

"So," she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest after a few seconds. "What is this task all about, do you think?"

"Surviving," Butler answered, looking around. "I think… we just walk."

"What was the line? In the poem?"

"Er…" Butler's brow clenched. "'Thirdly a trial for the pained and the weak. The sweat and the tears and the blood build the reek that Fourthly will bring thee a matter of doom…"

"That… doesn't sound good."

Butler nodded, looking around the landscape in search of a clue. Unfortunately, he found none. "I think we just have to walk. There's nothing here but sand and the suns."

"So… which way?" Holly asked.

"Any way," Butler said, and nodded forward. "Shall we?"

The first step was agonizing, but the second one was worse. The burning ground underneath Holly's feet had cooled to her body temperature the longer she had stood there, and so the shock of sand charring the calluses on the bottom of her feet brought involuntary tears to her eyes.

Butler did not let on of any pain, and Holly envied his ability to ignore it. She grimaced as she began to lurch across the sand, attempting to keep only the edges of her feet on the ground.

It was absolute agony. Holly could feel the calluses on the bottom of her feet peeling off in long strips, baring new, tender pink skin to the boiling surface of the sand. If it wasn't bad enough that the burning was enough to make her want to sob, tiny grains of sand insisted on embedding themselves into the most sensitive areas of her feet, rubbing insistently until blisters began to form.

After walking for a short amount of time, Holly chanced a look down and noticed the bloody footprints.

"It'll clot soon," Butler said as if he had read her mind, though his gaze was fixed firmly ahead. "I know it hurts, just… trust me. It'll be over soon."

Holly gritted her teeth and trudged on in silence.

Hours must have passed when Artemis finally stirred.

Butler instinctively drew him closer when he groaned, his voice raspy and raw. A hand rose weakly to cover his eyes, the sun horribly invasive and cruel. Holly immediately looked away, a blush rising to her already hot cheeks.

"… movoi?"

"I'm here," Butler said softly. "You're all right."

Artemis moaned quietly, trying to shift away from the sun. "Where are we?" he asked feebly. "What's going on? And the river! Is Holly – ?"

Suddenly, he became very still as the realization that he wasn't wearing any clothes hit him.

Holly plodded on, by now immune to the pain streaking across her feet. "I'm here, Artemis," she said in a monotone, unwilling to waste that much energy on speech.

Artemis didn't reply, still absorbed in the fact that he was naked. Butler looked straight ahead as the boy cracked his fingers, glancing at his bodyguard and the back of his female companion to very briefly observe their unclothed status. Artemis fought the urge to cover himself, knowing that it would only make things more awkward, and tried to force himself to be comfortable with the idea of being nude.

"I see," he said after a moment. "What exactly happened after Holly jumped after me into the water, Butler?"

Butler explained quickly and quietly, the beat of his footsteps into the scalding sand creating a rhythm for the story. Artemis listened attentively, periodically wiping his brow to clear the sweat that made his hair cling to his forehead.

"This is problematic," he said, putting on airs of being completely comfortable with his naked bodyguard carrying him through the desert in his birthday suit. "It seems that I will have to join you on the ground. We will have to walk, all together, for a specified amount of time. A full twenty-four hours, I would surmise." He paused for his companions to ask questions, but they both remained silent. "I hypothesize that this task has something to do with Egyptian mythology – one full day across the desert rings a bell. However, I am ashamed to admit that I have not put too much research into such mythology, and so I do not know the stories of their gods as well as I do those of the Romans', Greeks', and fairies' –"

"They're different gods," Holly said dully. "Not the ones who run this hellhole."

"I would have to guess that they are the same gods, Holly," he said. "Just with different names."

"Great. Whatever."

Artemis looked up to his bodyguard. "Butler. If you will put me down."

Butler's face was pulled into a frown, a serious debate yanking him in opposite directions. "Artemis… your feet…"

Artemis nodded curtly, his decision already made. "I am aware of the effects hot sand will have on my skin. It will no doubt hurt very much."

"You almost just died, Artemis. You're not ready to walk for a whole day."

Artemis scoffed. "Nor have I ever been, Butler. But the longer I wait, the weaker both you and Holly will grow. I should start now. Waiting with no food and water will do my body no good."

"I can't –"

"_Butler_," Artemis said sharply. "I know it will be excruciating. But we cannot advance to the next task until I do this. I have to."

Butler walked a few more steps and then gently lowered his charge to the ground.

Artemis's jaw clenched the moment his weight fully settled onto the sand, sinking him into the loose, burning piles. After a few moments he began to trudge alongside his bodyguard, the tendons in his neck sticking out profusely, involuntary tears gathering in his eyes. After a few steps he gasped in pain and then bit down on his tongue, refusing to voice his suffering.

His near drowning had taken its toll on his body, and with every step he felt his knees wobble dangerously, threatening to collapse on him. However, when Butler offered a hand in aid, he waved it away, faced with the gut instinct that accepting help meant miserably failing this task. Despite the recent encounter with water, he felt drained and dehydrated, robbed of what energy and strength he had had. For Butler's sake, he kept up the act of might, though inside he felt ready to collapse and sleep for the next eighteen hours.

Holly still refused to look his way. Artemis was unable to tell if the red on her ears and the back of her neck were evidence of blushing or sunburn.

"Holly," he said through gritted teeth.

She _hmm_ed in means of reply, looking straight ahead.

"Holly, both Butler and I are male," he said, patronizing. "Therefore, we are both in the possession of a penis. You are a female and are therefore in possession of breasts and a – "

"I am going to slap you if you don't shut up," Holly snapped, the back of her neck and ears growing a darker red.

"All I'm saying is that there is no need to feel awkward," Artemis said, lecturing in order to escape the burning engulfing his feet. "They are biological traits as homogenous as the presence of hands or mouths."

_Seriously?_ Holly thought, scowling. _Hands or mouth? That couldn't have been an accident._

But it truly had just been an example until Artemis realized how hands and mouths related to genitalia. He swallowed and let the idea of his blazing, peeling feet fill his mind in order to counteract his body's natural reaction.

Butler cleared his throat, uncomfortably nudging his charge.

"I am a genius," Artemis muttered to himself, closing his eyes to better envision the way his feet looked. "Rotting feet, skin peeling off like a degrading banana and getting stuck in the sand by clotting blood. I am above this…"

"What, Fowl?"

"Nothing," Artemis said, louder, keeping the imaginary picture of his feet in the forefront of his mind. "I find it interesting that there are four suns."

Holly shrugged, still not looking back. "Makes it impossible for any sort of shade to give you relief."

"Maybe," Artemis admitted. "However, it seems more mythological than anything else. I wish I knew the Egyptian legends better…"

"Why does it matter?" Holly said, frustrated. "It doesn't change anything."

"No," Artemis said. "But it does explain things and make them more predictable. And I am naturally a curious person, Holly. Surely you know this by now."

Holly shrugged again, crossing her arms in front of her chest and looking off to the far right, though there was nothing to see. Artemis battled his fatigue and struggled to pick up his pace until he was level with her, walking right by her side. She tensed, refusing to look his way. Artemis kept his eyes on her face, ignoring the desire to look down.

"Holly," he said softly so that Butler could not hear. "This will only be more difficult if you do not look at me. It is quite possible that we will not have clothes for the rest of our journey through Imperium. This is meant to create a barrier between compatriots. Do not let this place beat us."

Holly sighed heavily, hanging her head for a moment before peering awkwardly over at her friend. Artemis offered up a slightly embarrassed smile, which, when paired with his gritted teeth, looked more like a snarl.

"You're almost as red as a tomato," Holly snorted after a moment, looking away.

Artemis smiled ruefully. "That's what I get for spending my life indoors. Pasty skin does not do well in the sun." He looked ahead, considering. "Does the sunlight still make you feel awful despite your lack of magic?"

Holly thought about it for a moment. "Yes," she said. "But not as much as it would normally. I think that the biggest thing is that there are four suns baking me to the core. It's enough to make anyone feel like crap."

Artemis nodded. "Interesting. I must do a study on this when…" He paused, swallowing loudly in the quiet of the desert. "When I get home."

Holly hesitated before uncrossing her arms to gingerly pat him on his sunburned shoulder. "We'll make it through here, Artemis."

Artemis nodded gratefully and backed off, giving her what privacy he could given the circumstances. Retreating to Butler's side, he forced himself to focus on his tortured feet instead of hiding from it, choosing instead to run away from the idea of how Holly's sun-scalded breast, exposed by her pat on the shoulder, had looked from his peripheral vision.

"Nice job controlling your hormones," Butler muttered for only him to hear.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Artemis said stiffly, playing dumb for once in his life.

"Yes, you do," Butler said, ignoring his wish not to talk about it. "Just… well done. Most teenage boys wouldn't be able to control themselves at the sight of a naked woman, burning feet or not."

There was a long, awkward pause before Artemis murmured a soft acknowledgement of thanks.

From there, not a word was said for a long, long time. The trio's strength began to quickly wane. Artemis rapidly began to wilt in the sun, and even as his feet went numb, insensitive from the heat, he began to pant, sweat pouring down his feet as the desert dried out his body. Holly did her best to put up a front of strength, but after several hours her feet began to drag, the sand beginning to stick to the sweat coating her legs. Butler was the only one who kept going at nearly full strength, using sheer determination to call upon his training and act as the motivator.

"It has to have been at least 12 hours," he finally said. "Halfway there."

Both Holly and Artemis groaned faintly by means of response.

Holly trudged forward, forcing each step by reminding herself of what she had seen and been through in Haven, and what she was sacrificing to be where she was. Every time she contemplated collapsing into the sand she remembered the little girl, crushed in front of her eyes, and took another step.

_Just one more step. Just one more._

The little girl was staring at her as the building came crashing down, crushing her bones and exploding the blood from her veins.

_One more step. One more._

Beside her, exhausted past the point of trying to be logical or observant, slogged Artemis, peeling burns marking all up his lower legs, the sand easily attacking his sensitive skin. Every inch exposed to the sun was a bright, angry red, blistering and festering in the heat, destroying the shreds of dignity that kept up his strength act. The full force of the drowning was hitting him, pulling him down into a perpetual slump that he couldn't seem to break out of. A few hours back he had nastily snapped at Butler when he had offered help, and the manservant hadn't offered since.

There wasn't much to overcome but the sheer awfulness of it all. The periodic moans landed on the unsympathetic ears of the desert, which offered no sympathy. The suns did not move in the sky, and only seem to grow hotter.

_One more step_.

There was no relieving breeze, no redeeming quality, and the heat radiated off of the ground, shimmering in the stagnant air that was murder on the lungs.

_This is for mother. This will kill Opal. I must keep going._

It was like being baked, even as the hours and the feet dragged on, growing slower and slower and slower…

_Get him through this, get Artemis through this and it will all be okay._

And when the wind finally came, it was in a whirlwind of whipping sand, stinging every bit of exposed, burned, tortured skin, drawing anguished cries of pain from each member, despite all training or lack thereof. It was a terrible storm, piling sand around each of them until they were swimming in it, up to their necks, the last remnants of energy being thrust into the effort to escape, to rise above the surface and draw one last breath.

"Butler!" Artemis cried, clawing at the sand in an effort to pull himself out, but his bodyguard could only shout back, forced apart by the seething, unnatural sand that rose between them like great waves.

"Artemis!" Holly yelled, reaching out as the trio drew apart, losing sight as the sandstorm sucked them under, into the grainy, burning abyss where not even the four sun could reach and burn them.

"_Artemis!"_

_

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_

**Review, por favor?**

**In other news, if you pray or hope or anything of the sort, please leave a spot for my very good friend. He just suffered a death in the family a few days before we go to competition, and the poor boy has such a beautiful soul that he doesn't really let on how much it hurts. I think he needs all the hugs and good feelings in the world sent his way right now.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**To anyone who likes The Hunger Games trilogy, I will soon be posting a ficlet to that fandom, so keep your eye open. My first out of the realm of Artemis Fowl...**

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**Chapter Nine**

When Holly came to, she was sprawled on blissfully damp dirt.

She brought her head up, gasping, the air stinging her chapped lips. If the dirt was damp, then that meant there had to be water nearby. And sure enough, a tiny, clear creek trickled at the edge of the small clearing she had landed in. Within seconds, Holly was scrambling over the ground, dunking her head into the delightfully cool water, and gulping it down, paying no mind to her oxygen-deprived lungs.

When she had drunk her fill and her stomach ached with it all, she surfaced, chest heaving from the long time underwater. The next thing she noticed was that her LEP suit was, thankfully, back on her body, as dirty and robbed of tech as it had been before. She had never been so grateful to have clothes, even though her skin smoldered underneath the tight uniform.

Across the clearing, Artemis lay completely limp in Butler's arms, barely conscious enough to drink the water the bodyguard was trickling into his dry mouth. Butler looked plenty exhausted and dehydrated himself, but he stared at Artemis with intense focus, his concern yet again only on bringing his charge back from the brink of death.

Holly, now hit with the full force of her fatigue, crawled over and collapsed on her full stomach beside them, staying awake only long enough to realize that they were now in a night-darkened jungle.

When she woke up again, large, gentle hands were tugging gently at the zipper of her suit. She started, making to whip around and attack, but the huge palms were placed peacefully on her smarting back.

"It's just me," Butler murmured. "I found a plant to help treat burns."

Holly relaxed into the ground, half-closing her eyes as she allowed Butler to peel away her jumpsuit and one-piece down to her waist, freeing her back and spaghetti-like arms. The glorious smell of damp earth filled her nose as he poured water over her skin to wash away the irritating grains of sand before smoothing something over the blistered skin that felt so wonderfully cool and soothing that Holly couldn't help herself from groaning in relief.

"Better?" Butler asked once her back and arms were coated, and Holly sighed contentedly in response. She remained in a semi-conscious state as Butler moved to tend to Artemis's burns. The boy remained dead to the world, a rag-doll in Butler's hands.

"Is he okay?" Holly croaked out, unable to discern if Artemis was breathing in the very dim light the moon gave through the thick trees.

"He'll live," Butler said grimly, stripping Artemis down to his boxers and smoothing the balm he had managed to collect over his skin, which Holly could imagine would be a beautiful shade of peeling scarlet when the sun came up. Artemis whimpered hoarsely in his sleep, prompting Butler to shush him like a mother would and bring him more water to trickle down his throat.

Holly closed her eyes to the painful scene, instead letting the ointment cool her back and the damp soil soothe her front.

The next time she woke up, some energy had returned to her bones, and the sun had begun to rise. Beside her, Artemis still lay asleep, every inch of his skin caked in mud to help capture the moisture of the plant balm. Only his cracked lips peeked out, allowing him to breathe. Butler kept watch in the middle of the clearing, sagging with exhaustion.

"How does his skin look?" she rasped, slipping her one-piece back on with a wince as her burns protested. She sat up, zipping up her suit as well.

"Awful," Butler murmured, staring out into the jungle, which was eerily quiet. "At least he'll finally have some color when it's all over."

"Get some sleep," Holly commanded. "I'll keep watch and take care of him."

He complied easily, stretching out next to his charge, and was out within seconds. Once she was sure he was asleep, Holly stripped down to nothing and dived into the creek, swimming and drinking until she was completely sure that every niggling grain of sand was gone from her skin and hair and all the dead skin had been flushed away from her feet. After emerging, she found a curled leaf Butler had filled with plant extract, and smoothed it over her sunburned skin, sighing in relief until every scrap of her was shiny with it, wrapping her peeling, smoldering feet in mud when she finished. After vigilantly washing her one-piece, she slipped back into it, leaving her LEP suit out to dry instead of putting it on.

It was then that she joyfully noticed the presence of Butler's pack at the edge of the clearing. Within seconds she was gleefully munching on a small granola bar, filling her churning stomach with something of substance, placating its angry growling to her recent diet of water.

When she explored the clearing, she realized that, similar to the first clearing, she was physically thrown back when she tried to exit. Frowning, she sat on the other side of Artemis, bringing along a water bottle to dribble into his mouth. His breathing was shallow, and Holly peeled away the mud on his forehead, biting her chapped lip when she felt the fever radiating from his brilliantly red, blistering skin.

"Arty?" she whispered, and he stirred at the name. Holly cleared away the mud at his sunken sockets, allowing his eyes to open halfway, blearily searching her face as she stroked his forehead.

"…um," he whispered, hoarse.

"What's that?" Holly asked, leaning forward to hear. "Do you want more water?"

"Mum," he choked out, coughing lightly. Holly froze, staring him straight in the unfocused blue eyes. "Mum… my heart's beating… so fast…" He leaned into Holly's touch, almost nuzzling her fingers. "I think… I'm going to die, Mum…"

"Arty, shh," Holly whispered, hurrying to open the water bottle. "You're just dehydrated. You'll be okay, just drink this." She trickled water into his arid mouth, her heart aching as his tongue searched weakly for every droplet, his throat making a terrible noise as it struggled to swallow dryly. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on gulping down water, letting Holly stroke his burned, peeling forehead without protest. When he moaned, she stopped pouring, letting him breathe shallowly for a while.

When he opened his eyes again, he focused on her face with only a bit of difficulty. "Holly?"

"Glad to have you with us," she whispered, smiling feebly and deciding against informing him of his delusion. "How do you feel?"

He groaned softly. "Like dried road kill," he complained. "How much water is there?"

"There's a stream, and we have Butler's supplies back," Holly said, uncapping the bottle again. "You can have all the water you need."

He drank avidly this time, a little bit of life returning to his bloodshot eyes. "Thank you," he muttered when he was finished.

"Anytime," Holly said. "I know you hate feeling helpless, but you just rest, okay? The most important thing is you getting healthy again." She paused to drink deeply from the bottle, emptying it completely. "You want food?"

"No," he breathed, and was asleep again. Holly shrugged and refilled the water bottle. When she returned to Artemis's side, she gently poured water over his face, carefully avoiding his mouth, nose, and eyes, and then spilled the rest onto the already damp ground near his head. Scooping up a handful of mud, Holly tenderly reapplied Artemis's moisture-trapping mask. Once his face was fully covered save for his lips, she sat back, examining her work and offered up a wry, tired smile.

"You really are a mud boy now, Arty," she said softly before filling the water bottle once more and settling in to wait between her two humans.

A few hours passed before Butler woke up, checked on Artemis, and searched the clearing for edible plants. Holly dozed while he built a small fire in the full sunlight, cooking a packet of soup for Artemis and chopping vegetation for him and Holly. He instructed Holly to crush more of the fleshy plant he had found the balm in before waking Artemis and spoon-feeding him like a baby. Artemis was too exhausted to do anything more than grumble briefly about it. Holly watched, crushing the plant into ointment as she snacked on fresh leaves from the jungle.

Butler took the ointment from her when Artemis had finished the soup, using the water bottle to rinse away the now-dry mud, revealing horribly burned, peeling skin. Holly's stomach lurched at the sight, making it impossible to look away from the maroon, seared hide.

"Are those _sores_?" Holly gasped as Butler rolled his moaning charge over, revealing the back of his shoulders.

"Yep," Butler said bleakly, spreading copious amounts of the balm over the worst areas, drawing blood. Artemis hissed as the shining red was spread over the darker red of his shoulders, stinging the already tortured skin. Holly, a normally hardened soldier, felt bile rise in her throat and she looked away quickly.

But try as she might, Holly couldn't escape the sound of Artemis's groans of pain or Butler murmurs that he knew it hurt, and shh, Artemis, clench your teeth, this will sting…

When Artemis was asleep under the mud again, Butler returned to Holly, looking uneasily into the trees. They sat in silence for a while, trying not to worry about the boy buried in the mud.

"How long until we can keep going?" Holly asked after a long while.

"We can't," Butler said. "We're trapped in this clearing, much like the first one."

"What I meant was how long until he's on his feet again?"

Butler sighed, dropping his head in his hands. "I'd say at least two days, and even then he'll be in agony. He can't even move without cringing."

"He'll be okay, though," Holly said. "Hey, almost halfway through the tasks, right?"

"He's almost died in two out of the three," Butler argued back. "And now we're sitting ducks in this clearing."

"Speaking of," Holly said, looking around edgily. "Let's talk about this fourth task."

The lines in Butler's forehead deepened, a hand gingerly cupping his peeling chin, causing him to grimace. "'The sweat and the tears and the blood build the reek that Fourthly will bring you a matter of doom where some may be lost to the death-ridden gloom.' Ominous, of course."

"This whole _place _is ominous," Holly sighed, moving so that she she sat behind Butler, their backs an inch apart to let air touch the tortured skin, leaving not a speck of clearing unwatched.

"Agreed," Butler rumbled. "But the poem's right; we do have blood all over us from walking on the sand and, for Artemis, the burns on his shoulder. It sounds like we're luring something with the smell."

"I don't like this," Holly said. "Not at all. And we don't have weapons, either…"

Butler's glance traveled shiftily over to Artemis, who was stone-still under the mud. "Being without a gun makes me feel like the world's biggest failure of a bodyguard."

"It'll be okay," Holly said, more to reassure herself than Butler. "This place can't be impossible to get through. Otherwise it wouldn't exist."

"Right," Butler grunted. "I'd feel more comfortable if one of us was always on the top of our game, so would you mind if we watch in shifts?"

Holly agreed, and, at Butler's insistence that he was running full on sleep, curled onto the ground next to the mound of earth that was Artemis. She hadn't felt at all sleepy beforehand, running on fear, but the moment she closed her eyes she felt herself slipping, slipping away…

She was awoken by Butler's shout of warning, and barely had time to open her eyes before a shadow crossed her face and a roar shook her to the very core, rattling her teeth and bones. Instantly she threw herself over Artemis, who had awoken with a yell of fear at the snarl, and looked up, blood draining from her face.

Beast was the only word for the thing that crouched in the middle of the clearing, trying to decide between devouring Butler or Holly and Artemis. It had the body of a human man – a gargantuan man, its legs and torso alone easily twice the height of Butler – and was bulging with muscles, wicked-looking claws caked with blood and dirt curling out of its fingers and toes. Its head, however, was the skull of some kind of enormous animal, razor-sharp teeth at least the length of Holly curving out like knives. At the neck bunched a fantastic explosion of matted, filthy brown hair.

Across the clearing, Butler was looking between his charge, weakly struggling to extract himself from the mud, and the monster before them, bigger and stronger than any troll. When the beast decided to go for the two small, terrified figures at the clearing's edge with a roar that echoed through the jungle, the bodyguard leapt forward, hurling the first thing his hands found at the creature's skull; the pot he had used to cook soup. It hit with a clang, distracting the thing while Holly yanked Artemis, who bit back a howl as her hands scrabbled at his burned skin, out of the mud.

The supply pack lay mostly packed at the other side of the clearing. As Butler dodged the enraged beast's swings and blows, Holly darted forward, sweeping up Artemis's clothes and rolling across the clearing behind the monster to the bag. Stuffing the clothes inside, she made to turn and sprint back to Artemis, who watched, horrified and helpless, from the sidelines.

But within a second of seeing the shout budding from Artemis's lips, Holly felt herself slammed down to the earth in a manner that made her ribs ache, and she felt the air leave her lungs with a violent whoosh. Artemis's warning rang through the clearing far too late, and even as Butler leapt on top of the creature's back, the beast reared up and then down, bring down one meaty, grimy hand upon Holly's outstretched arm.

She heard the clean snap before she felt the pain, and didn't realize that the scream that echoed through the air was hers until it had left her mouth. Her arm was too warm and the world was swimming, dulled by suffering and shock. The beast lay down as if to smother the life from her, squeezing the air from her lungs to the point where her vision was fading and fuzzing to black. Had she not been so disoriented, she would have sworn she head Artemis cry her name.

And then the beast was gone, lifted off of her, and Butler was fighting it hands-on, and Holly was sprinting across the clearing, her lungs burning and her ribs aching and her limp, dangling arm on fire, and Artemis's eyes were locked on his bodyguard and the deadly combat splayed before them.

Holly's good hand took his.

But fists and kicks were not a good match to ten three-foot-long claws, and the scream that left Artemis's mouth as three broad red stripes split Butler's chest were the worst thing Holly had ever heard in her life. Even with one good arm, she was able to restrain him as he struggled to run for his manservant, who had dropped, gasping, onto the muddy ground, thrown into the air by the force of the swipe. One claw, broken by Butler's attempt to block the swing, flipped through the air like a boomerang, landing near the bodyguard, whose defense efforts were only rewarded by a mangled arm.

"_Butler!" _Artemis shrieked, attempting to claw his way out of Holly's grip, all pain brought on by his burns eliminated by the force of his dread. Holly shouted at him to remain by her side as he fought her, his nails leaving thin trails of blood up her arm. The beast, distracted by the noise, turned their way with a great bellow of hunger and bloodlust.

On the jungle floor, crumpled in a bloody heap, Butler staggered to the height of his elbows, locking eyes with Holly even as he wiped the scarlet staining his face away. She couldn't hear what he whispered, but it was one word, and it couldn't have been clearer.

_Run_.

She did as was told, adrenaline pumping through her as she snatched Artemis in a headlock and wheeled around, her legs jettisoning them to the edge of the clearing. Artemis struggled, fighting to pull back to Butler, and the beast roared as it started to run after them, and they were almost into the jungle…

_Run._

Two feet from the edge of the clearing, they were propelled into the air, pummeled by the forgotten barrier around the edge. Together, Holly and Artemis flew past the beast, tossed like rag dolls past Butler, who was struggling to his feet, and landing near the other edge. The heavy pack cushioned Holly's landing, who in turn cushioned Artemis's.

_Run!_

The beast charged. Butler, staggering slightly, rose to his feet between them, fist clenched around the broken, filthy claw. The beast ignored him standing in all of his glory, his eyes blazing and his front coated in a shining coat of blood, and kept its eyes only on Holly and Artemis even as Butler thrust the claw through its chest, piercing its heart.

The beast, finally realizing it had been stabbed, screamed so loud that both fairy and human, struggling to regain their footing at the edge of the clearing, felt a pop in both eardrums. Even as the wailing wound down, it was accompanied with another sound, perhaps even more horrible, issuing from a place more terrifying than anywhere else a sound like it could issue.

Butler's screams echoed around the clearing, even as the beast's waned a bit, and Artemis, at seeing the four thick claws protruding from his best friend's back, joined in the cacophony, screeching the bodyguard's name in such a raw show of agony that it was a wonder the world didn't crack into a billion pieces and disintegrate under their feet.

Holly could only stare, her mouth open in a silent cry.

It was too much, too much to see. Holly clamped the bad hand over Artemis's mouth, ignoring his biting, fighting his thrashing, and coating his near-naked body with her blood. It was all too much and it couldn't be happening because Butler's body was spasming and Artemis was flailing for his friend and a strange wind was rushing everywhere and something was wrong with her ears and suddenly she was pushing into the forest, past the clearing, and running and running with Artemis still weakly struggling at her side until the darkness pulled them in like a pair of arms welcoming them into somewhere where pain didn't exist and nobody sacrificed their lives to save the world.

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**My wonderful beta has convinced me to be a sadist. The next chapter is complete and was sent to her about two weeks ago. However, the following chapter is giving me trouble, so I won't be posting it for a while. But reviews would certainly make it come faster... All it takes is a minute of your time.**


	10. Chapter 10

**This certainly took longer than expected. Seriously, it took my poor Ru-Doragon almost a month to edit this. That is how overrun she is with school right now, and she's about to launch into exams. Send her hugs, you guys. In other news, it is now my turn to be completely swamped with school, what with my birthday coming up, and a documentary to do in half a month, and auditions/rehearsal for the fall show, and a ginourmous research paper, and prom, and various millions of other projects, and my novel, and summer classes starting before school even ends and (huge breath) oh yeah, exams. Have to pass those, I guess. So the next chapter, while partially written, will not be completed for quite some time.  
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**Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing. Ya'll are the bestest! In other news, I have drafted a cover for Imperium (I never did anything other than finish the sketch of the HTPW one...), and as soon as school lets out I will slap in on the scanner, pop it into Photoshop and make it real purdy for all of you.  
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**Chapter Ten**

The moment the barrier broke, the screams of Butler and the beast faded away.

Holly fell forward and hit the ground hard, screeching as she landed on her broken arm. Artemis, in the exact definition of juxtaposition, lay still and quiet beside her, eyes closed and arms curled around his head. Gasping, Holly pulled herself to her feet, looking back to where they had just come from. There was nothing but a few scraggly trees dotting a graying rock face, below which a valley stretched so deep that the bottom was hazy with fog.

The air was chilly and bone-dry, the perfect kind to sear the lungs. Staggering slightly, Holly tried to listen for a threat, but her sensitive ears, still ringing shrilly from the noises of the beast's attack and the horror that had accompanied it, refused to take in much sound. All that was left was a strange, muted silence, giving her chills when she felt the breeze but couldn't hear it.

Butler was dead.

Vision fogging slightly, Holly knelt next to the pack, groaning as she applied pressure to her broken arm. Through the mess of blood and maimed skin, she could see pure white bone sticking through, leaking marrow. With no magic to heal it, she would have to go about fixing it the old-fashioned way.

With a small shriek, Holly pushed the bone back under the skin, doing the best she could to shove it back into its proper place. She gasped in pain and black spots danced before her eyes as she applied as much pressure as she could to the wound without passing out. As fast as possible, she wrapped the wound in a thick swatch of bandages. Blood began to seep through almost immediately, but after a few minutes of sitting, the blossoming red on the white fabric began to slow.

Butler was _dead_.

Exhausted, Holly had barely the mind to throw a coat over Artemis, nearly naked in the cold, before she curled up and sank into a very deep sleep.

He hadn't moved when she opened her eyes again. Holly could hear a little better, but got the idea that she had slept for only a few hours. Her arm throbbed angrily as she dragged herself into a sitting position, trying to get her bearings. They were on an outcrop of dusty white rock, leading to a thin path up the side of the cliff. The sky was a steely grey, the valley below even more immersed with fog then it had been before.

Slowly, Holly dug through the pack and pulled out an extra pair of Butler's trousers, ripping away the hems until she had made something of a sling, or at least something that supported her aching arm. With that taken care of, she gently shook Artemis from his grief-caused stupor.

His eyes came into focus and she could see that, just for a single second, he hoped it had all been a dream, but once that second was over, reality came crashing down over him and his burned face crumpled and buried into his knees.

"Hey," Holly whispered, for lack of something better to say.

He threw off the coat — Butler's coat, Holly realized, mentally hitting herself over her own stupidity — and scrambled away, curling around himself against the cliff face in a very clear leave-me-alone gesture. Holly, of course, ignored it.

She knelt down beside him, gingerly touching his shoulder with her good hand. His shaking was too minute to discern by sight, but she felt pulsing tremors wracking him to the bone, threatening to shatter the thin threads that held him together. He refused to respond to his name or her touch, and, defeated, Holly set up two sleeping bags beside him and tried to coax him into drinking some water. When he rejected it, she stuffed herself into the sleeping bag farthest from him, set herself sitting uncomfortably against the rock face, and prepared to keep watch. The hours passed, but nothing emerged from the gloom, and she slowly found herself drifting into a half-sleep.

"He's dead," Artemis whispered after a very long time, yanking her back from her slumber. His voice was hoarse and grating from dehydration and many silent hours of grief. "He's _gone _Holly, he's… Domovoi's gone."

"Domovoi," she parroted, unsure of what else to say, and despite the disappearance of her magic, her Gift translated the name from Slavic into something she could understand. "That's beautiful."

Artemis shuddered deeply, trying to hold himself together by clutching his knees tighter to his chest and burrowing his head down. He cringed when Holly wrapped her good arm around his shoulders, so she chose instead to let him mourn in solitude.

When she awoke, Artemis was still forgoing his sleeping bag, but had presumably fallen over and retained the same fetal position sideways, completely unconscious and looking inappropriately at peace given the situation. Holly had no idea how much time had passed, but she did a brief check into the claustrophobic fog for threats and then cleared a place for a fire. Realizing that their matches had been left by the small fire in the clearing and that Butler was no longer around to start a fire from nothing, Holly began knocking random rocks together in a vain effort to make sparks.

She heard clicking to her right and spun around with a cry of warning on her lips, convinced that she was about to see some sort of giant mutant crab waiting to kill them both, but it was only Artemis kneeling by her side, an uncomfortable red against the white cliffs, sparking two black rocks together until a tiny flame erupted over Holly's pathetic pile of sticks.

"How did you —?"

"The Last of the Mohicans," Artemis said hoarsely, looking straight at the baby flames floundering in the wind before him. "I promised myself that I would read it if we got back to our own time alive. That was before…" He trailed off, unwilling to talk about his mother's death in the recent light of Butler's.

"I'm so sorry," Holly whispered.

Artemis shrugged, looking more tired and weary than he ever had before. Somehow, Holly doubted the next words that came out of his mouth. "What's done is done. There is no going back, only forward. And that's what we came here to do." He rose to a standing position, shaky after so much time of dehydration and encasement, and dug some clothes out of the pack, changing before wandering off to improve on Holly's fuel collection. She muttered her thanks when he dumped a few pine needles onto the pile, improving the flames.

"You're injured, Holly," he said frankly. "I couldn't possibly expect you to scale cliffs to gather sticks with one arm." His expression of carelessness dropped slightly when he looked back into the strengthening fire. "Perhaps it was because of the fire he lit that the beast arrived. I cannot say the thought hasn't crossed my mind. But out here I do not see a threat. The poem speaks of something we have to reach, not something that will come to us."

"How can you be sure?" Holly asked softly.

"There is a path leading away from here," Artemis said. "And we were confined in that clearing. We should consider ourselves lucky. If we hadn't been given the extra days there, I doubt I would have made it out of there alive."

Disturbed by Artemis's coldness, Holly didn't reply, and they lapsed into silence, each staring off to their own spot in the fog as the sky darkened quickly to night. Once blackness had filled the foggy sky, the firelight reflected off of the mist, making their space feel uncomfortably small.

Without a cue, without saying anything, Artemis dug out the extensive medical kit and gently, ever so gently, unwrapped Holly's shoddy, hurried sling and bandages. She did her best not to verbalize her pain as Artemis's pianist fingers fluttered around her arm, unwinding blood-soaked bandages and grimly pushing the bone back into its proper place. Despite his caution and the cold around them, it was excruciating, and Holly found herself viciously biting her tongue to keep from crying out as sweat poured down her body.

"Scream if you need to," Artemis murmured, squinting at the raw, ground-up wound. "It's the body's natural release, and a far better alternative than sinking your teeth into your tongue."

So Holly screamed, and not just for the physical pain. She screamed for her loss, and for Artemis's horribly burned skin, and for Butler, and for Grub, and for her mother and for Angeline and for all the fairies she had watched die. And when she was done screaming and her arm lay pristinely in a splint and newly configured sling, she curled next to Artemis and he curled next to her and together they didn't sleep.

When morning came again, they got the fire going again, and when Holly had scrabbled together some soup from their meager food supply, Artemis took his bowl and sat on the edge of the cliff, looking out into the fog, his legs dangling carelessly over the endless drop. Holly was reminded that, despite all his maturity and the responsibilities that adversity had forced on him over the years, there was a part of him that was still just a boy, and that he was grieving, and how much she needed him to be okay. So she sat beside him silently until he chose to talk.

"I hate this place," he whispered, dual-toned eyes searching the fog for something, anything.

"I know," she replied softly. "When it's all over though, when we've made it out, you can go home."

Artemis scoffed, looking down into his cold bowl of uneaten soup. "Why?" he asked after a moment, so childlike and vulnerable that Holly ached to sweep him into her arms and protect him from anything else thrown their way. "What's the point of going home without him?"

"You still have your family," she offered.

Artemis gave her a disbelieving glance. "Really, Holly? My ghost of a terrible father, my corrupted brothers? The nanny? No, there is no place for me at Fowl Manor anymore."

Holly tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but he hissed from a mixture of pain and irritation, so she dropped it. "You've lasted this long, haven't you?"

"Because of Domovoi. He was my last saving grace."

"Domovoi…"

"Yes, what about him?" Artemis was irritable, trying to squash the natural human emotions rising up through his body.

"It's beautiful," Holly said, repeating what she had said earlier. "The name, what it means. He really was born to be with you, wasn't he?"

"I don't know," Artemis snapped. "There's no point in contemplating the idea anymore. He's gone. It's my fault — he died for me."

"Gods, Artemis, don't be so hard on yourself."

"Why not?" he snarled, his fingers beginning to rapidly tap on the rock of the cliff face, a sinister rhythm that Holly couldn't quite place. "You know nothing. You're completely undermining the situation!"

"I'm not, Artemis!" Holly said, in a vain attempt to calm him down. "Believe me, I'm just trying to be rational!"

"Well forgive me for having a bit of trouble with rationality!" Artemis yelled, and Holly grabbed the soup before it could go flying off the cliff, wasting part of their valuable food supply. "My best friend on _earth_ just sacrificed his life to save me! You have no idea the guilt that brings down on me!"

But she did, though she didn't say it. Though she argued with him, the image of Julius being blown to bits right before her eyes shadowed Artemis's grief-twisted face like a transparent overlay.

"Artemis, it's what he would have wanted to happen —"

And then she was very glad she had grabbed the soup when she did, because Artemis was on his feet so fast that she didn't even see him rise, his hands pulling desperately at his filthy hair, his eyes squeezed shut so tightly that it was a wonder his head didn't explode. "We were supposed to go down together!" he bellowed. "He was never supposed to die without me!" There was such a long silence that Holly began to wonder if he had been yelling at her or some other imaginary figure. When he opened his eyes, they were tear-filled for the first time since Butler's death.

"You would never understand," he whispered, choking on his words.

"He _loved_ you," Holly said quietly.

Artemis sank down against the wall again, wrapping his arms around his knees once more. "And I loved him just as much, if not more." Exhausted, he put his head down and did not show any signs of life for another few hours. Holly, for lack of something better to do, stirred his soup while looking blankly out into the fog.

When he woke up, he took the soup from her, put it over the floundering fire, and heated it up without speaking. It was only when the broth first touched his lips that Holly spoke.

"Artemis… I think that once this is over, he would have wanted you to go home and fix your relationship with your father."

His tone wasn't angry, but exasperated, weary. "For God's sake, Holly, what would you know about what Domovoi would have wanted?"

"He would have wanted you to be happy," Holly muttered. "I know that much."

"Please," Artemis said scathingly. "I am the farthest thing from happy when I am around my father. Domovoi knew that. He would never have wanted me to go back to living in Hell."

"Arty —"

"My father blames me for my mother's death, Holly!" Artemis snapped, but there was no real venom behind his words. At least, not directed at her. "How can I go back and face that alone?"

"You need a home," Holly whispered.

"Butler _was _my home," Artemis replied, just as quiet, and it was all Holly could do not to burst into tears as he bent into himself, curling over his half-eaten soup, and started to cry.

So instead she skirted around the fire and took him in his arms because despite all of his maturity and genius, he was still incredibly young, and she loved him. So she let him sob into her shoulder as the night drew closer, and inevitably she cried too, and they clung to each other in the wretchedness of Imperium, sitting on a narrow, fog-clouded ledge from which there stemmed a path that lead to nowhere.

And after a while, Artemis's head was in her lap, and Holly was stroking his hair despite all the dried sweat and dirt, and he had stopped crying and her thoughts had drifted to how they were going to make the food and water last for the last three tasks.

"You're my only reason left for living now," Artemis said softly, his voice not much more than a whisper. "Did you know?"

"I guessed," Holly replied, though she hadn't really thought about it. And because she might never get the chance to say it again, she told him: "I love you, Artemis."

He murmured some indistinguishable response, halfway to sleep, so peaceful that Holly felt more like a mother than a lover, just as Butler had said. So she sang him a lullaby she had fallen asleep to as a child, rocking him slightly and quivering in the cold mountain air, waiting and waiting to see the fog-hidden stars that would never come.


	11. Chapter 11

**Holy freaking crap you guys, I am so sorry for this delay. Blame writer's block and being lazy. That's really all I can say. I wrote most of this in one sitting. It's over 6,500 words.  
**

**This chapter is not beta-ed. Poor Ru has extremely limited computer usage and I myself have been in college classes and now sick for nearly a week. I think the hospital is sick of me coming in and saying that I'm still not better, but I'm pretty mad at them too. I'm terrified of needles, and they've stuck me with so many IVs, which are super painful, and drawn a ton of blood, and done a _spinal tap_, from which I nearly passed out in terror (and got a lovely spinal headache. If you've never had one, pray you never will because it is the most excruciating headache possible and does not go away for a week). Somehow, they still don't know what's wrong with me. Anyway, the whole point of this rant is that this chapter is not beta-ed. Back to sleep for me.**

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**Chapter Eleven**

Holly woke up when the ground started shaking.

She blinked blearily, confused. She couldn't have slept for more than an hour, because her eyes had that sticky after-nap feeling. But that thought was totally disregarded when the swirling fog started to flicker, glowing orange, and her lungs started to sting…

"Wake up!" she yelled, roughly shaking Artemis, who was still asleep in her lap. He woke up with an agonized cry – in her panic, she had forgotten the festering sores on his shoulders, buried under his clothes – but he lost any thought of anger when he saw the terror on her face, remembered where they were, and smelled the smoke.

They didn't even have to speak. Holly flew over to the pack, which was half-obscured by smoke, and fought to pull it over her sling. Artemis scrambled around the campsite, throwing their remaining supplies into the pack, and hurriedly zipped it when Holly had it squarely on her shoulders. Without a word, she offered him her hand and they took off down the treacherously thin mountain path, which curled away out of sight.

Behind them, there was a great roar as the fire came into view, swallowing the ledge they had been sleeping on. It was unnaturally bright, hungry and orange, and it chased them as they ran, choking on black smoke. In under a minute, Artemis was gasping for breath, but was only sucking in poisonous fumes, and he began to stagger, his eyelids fluttering.

"Don't you dare die on me!" Holly howled, her voice roughened by smoke, and he made a visible effort to haul himself up, coughing horribly. Holly dragged him along the craggy trail, which sloped down at a terrifyingly steep angle, her feet slipping as the dry, fragile rock crumbled beneath her.

The fire lapped at Artemis's heels, feasting on the dry rock as it pursued them down the mountainside.

"Holl – " Artemis coughed before his voice went out on him, and, grunting primitively, he pointed roughly to something Holly hadn't been able to see through the thick black smoke; a cave entrance, low and narrow. Without a second thought, she yanked Artemis inside, and with the brief respite of fresh air, they began to run.

The relief didn't last long. The flames followed them in easily, gorging and fueling itself on the clean air and sucking the oxygen from their lungs. Artemis's breathing was frantically heavy in Holly's ear, panicked and desperate to draw even the smallest molecule of breathable oxygen.

She could see the glow of the flames in her peripheral vision.

"Artemis —" she gasped, fighting to breathe. "You — have to — run faster!"

He only wheezed in reply, squeezing her hand as tightly as possible.

"Artemis!"

"Leave — me — behind!" he rasped, breathless, the fire reaching out to grab his feet in a way that was freakishly like fingers.

"Not a — chance!" Holly panted, yanking him forward. Their feet were pounding into the dry white rock, running, running, and coming here had been a mistake because they were going to die in this godforsaken tunnel and Artemis was beginning to fall to the ground —

There! Holly cried out when she saw the fork in the cave, nearly ripping Artemis's arm out of his socket in her haste to get there. The fire fell behind a few feet, as if surprised by her sudden speed, and Holly, not caring which way they went as long as they were away from the hellish heat, chose to sprint headlong toward the right pathway.

It was like running into a brick wall. Together, they fell to the ground, momentarily stunned until Holly staggered to her feet, feeling her nose swelling painfully.

The flames roared, swelling furiously, only a couple of yards away.

Holly hauled Artemis up by his armpit, screaming in pain as her bone separated again inside her arm. Artemis floundered, fighting to rise to his feet.

"The other one!" Holly bellowed, swallowing black smoke. "Get over there, Artemis, go!"

But when she shoved him forward to the other passage, Artemis's limp hand made contact with the same invisible wall, and then her fingers landed on his. Holly roared in frustration.

Artemis pushed her away, both of his hands hitting the hot stone, his fingers splaying out over the dusty white rock. Holly gripped his shoulder with her good hand, holding on tightly, wanting to be connected him in their final moments.

The fire began to touch the toes of her shoes.

Artemis, panting, pushed her away again, and took a huge, burning breath. "Go!" he yelled. "Have to — separate! I'll — find you!"

"Artemis —!"

"_Go!_"

Holly threw her body to the right, and Artemis crawled toward the left, hacking and coughing, tossing his body into the space. And the boundaries were no longer there, and his nails were tearing from his fingers, and the ground was so _hot_ and fire, so much fire, swirling around like a painting as he lay on his back, struggling to breathe, and it was like a canvas of beautiful, terrible flames painted before him, stoppered and heaving through the air —

The fire was blocked.

It was like an invisible wall stood between Artemis's sprawled legs and the rolling swell of blistering orange flames. There was no longer smoke, or heat, or the sound of roaring, crackling fire. It was just an exhausted body tangled on cool white stone, looking off into a dark tunnel, momentarily lit by orangey fire, that curled off into nothingness.

Artemis tried to call for Holly, but his voice wouldn't come, and he doubted that she would have been able to hear him if she had managed to make it out of the fire alive. If she had made it, she too was sealed off in her own little world.

Artemis forced his doubt to the back of his mind and curled up on the cold stone, pressing as much of his blistered skin to the rock as he could. His muscles felt liquidized, exhausted by the fevered race for survival and the smoke inhalation, and his brain felt sluggish and heavy. It wasn't clear for how long he lay on the dusty rock, sinking in and out of unconsciousness, his body panicking to try and recover. But it had to have been hours, because when he woke up for real, his muscles had seized up against his bones, and his skin was smoldering with the feeling of a healing burn, and his tongue lay thick in his mouth.

His brain was foggy.

All he wanted was water. It consumed his mind, sucking his concentration away. The fire was gone, but the tunnel was lit with the dimmest of light emitting from tiny hairline cracks in the ceiling, pulsing with some kind of luminescent material. The walls shimmered ever so slightly with the quality of moisture, but when he reached out his fingers to catch some of the dribbling water, Artemis immediately clutched his hand back with a hiss of pain.

The walls were coated with acid.

But it _looked _so much like water, and his tongue was so dry. Though the pain in his hand was sharp and festering, he found himself aching to reached out again, to cup the dribbling, sparkling liquid in his hand. Despite the fogginess of his brain, Artemis forced his hands to his sides. He had slept for hours. Whatever the fifth task was, Holly had a big head start on her part, and could be waiting for him.

And so he began to walk, arms ramrod straight to his side, jaw clenched and head squared. His skin, irritated by the heat of the fire, begged to be pressed against water, but each time his fingers twitched for the acid on the walls he snapped them back to clench the fabric of his pants.

The dark, claustrophobic hallway twisted on and on like a one-way labyrinth, leading Artemis on and on through the gloom. It was eerie, the only sounds emitting from the heavy pat of Artemis's shoes and his ragged breathing echoing off the teasing drips of the acid.

When he wasn't obsessed with water, he worried about Holly.

Obviously, they had been split up for a reason. Obviously, together they were too strong for what was to come. Obviously, this next task would attack personally, right at the core.

Desperate to hear something besides the scuff of his shoes and the dripping of the acid, Artemis muttered the poem to himself. "Fifth, travel on, though the journey is tiring, for here is wear she traps the guilty admiring men, who perhaps will escape unto sixth..."

A temptress of some sort? He scoffed, the sound echoing down the endless stone hallway. He was Artemis Fowl, for God's sake. He couldn't fall prey to a woman's advances. How pubescent.

And in that moment, as if it were trying to keep him from focusing on purpose, his brain began to long for water once more, and the coherent thought slipped from his mind.

Artemis wasn't sure how long he walked. It could have been one hour, it could have been twenty, but he remembered himself when the first moan reached his ears out of the gloomy passage.

He paused, shaken from his stupor. In his overwhelming obsession with water, combined with his concentration to not touch the walls, he hadn't noticed the watery light far ahead, filtering in from a turn in the long, dusty stone hallway. It was something he had never heard, but it sounded horribly familiar.

Though he was anxious, his walking slowed.

Another moan sounded through the passage. The voice was different. Artemis fought to keep his breathing from echoing down the hall.

"Ugh... hello?"

His aching, empty stomach lurched. That was Holly's voice.

"Is anyone here?" she called. It sounded as if her teeth were gritted. Was she in pain?

Somehow, through his hazy brain, Artemis refrained from calling out to her, preferring to keep the element of surprise for whatever was ahead. He crept forward, flinching at every noise his shoes made on the uneven ground.

A different voice moaned in response to Holly.

"Who's there?" she demanded.

When Artemis finally turned the corner, his knees buckled and he had to fight the urge to retch, his empty stomach turning.

The chamber beyond was dimly lit at best, built crudely from dark grey, mossy stones. There were no windows, the only light coming from a couple of tiny chinks in the ceiling that let in dim sunlight and a small pyre in the center of the room. But the terrifying thing wasn't the room itself. It was the three struggling people in it.

Artemis wasn't sure whether to look at his mother, or Butler, or Holly.

All three were chained painfully to the wall by thick iron bonds, their legs and arms pinned at awkward angles, half-submerged in a pool of what seemed to be water, not acid, as their pain didn't seem to be biting. They wore blindfolds and made various sounds of discomfort at their positions. Butler and his mother had a strange shimmery quality to their bodies.

Artemis stepped forward, his hiking boot splashing into a shallow puddle of what seemed to be water, not acid — though in the light of what he was looking at, his thirst had strangely dissipated — and all three heads whipped around to face him. Angeline's lower lip quivered.

"Who's that?" Holly demanded.

"Holly?" Butler finally spoke up. She cocked her head.

"_Butler_?"

"You two," Angeline said, straining at her chains. "How am I speaking to you?"

"Madam Fowl?"

"So," Artemis spoke up, fighting for control over his voice. All three heads turned back to his direction. "What's the catch?"

Butler used his knees to slide the blindfold from his head, staring intently at Artemis when he was free.

"I had a dream," Holly said slowly. "When I was... I don't even know what happened. One moment I was walking, and the next it was dark and I couldn't move... And I know that to go one you have to choose one of us."

"I felt that too," Butler said darkly.

"And me," Angeline said, her voice quivering. "Arty, what's going on? Why am I with you, sweetheart?"

Artemis fought the lump growing in his throat and shifted his weight. "Slide your blindfold, Mother," he said stiffly. "With your knees. You as well, Holly."

They did as they were told, somewhat awkwardly. Something was off about the elf, but Artemis sat cross-legged on a dry patch of stone.

"So essentially," he said slowly. "I have to choose between you lot. Meaning what?"

"Meaning that you can either bring one of them from the dead," Holly said, "or you can save my life. And then you leave. That's it."

Artemis gave her a disbelieving expression. "That's _it?_ Really? Well, in that case, let's just get this over with and go have a nice cup of tea, shall we?"

"Artemis, this is easy," Holly said through gritted teeth. "They're _dead_. You couldn't kill me to bring them back from the dead, could you?"

Artemis's eyes flicked to Butler, and then his mother. Angeline's eyes locked on his.

"Arty, please," she said. "The boys need me. I've seen what a terrible job your father is doing —"

The genius flinched. "Mum —"

"Wasn't it you who said that I was your home?" Butler rumbled. "Artemis, you need me, both to get out of this place and to keep you sane at home."

"That's _my_ job," Angeline snapped. "My boys need me — Butler, you've _seen_ how Timmy's breaking. And Arty needs me more than anything."

Artemis tried to speak once more. "Look, all of you —"

"Uh, hello?" Holly called. "Butler, I love you and all, and Ms. Fowl, it's great to see you sane, but you're _dead_."

"And Artemis would be better off if I weren't," Butler rumbled. "Face it, Holly. Artemis is safer with me than with you."

"Um," Artemis said dumbly, chewing absently on one ragged nail.

"Butler. You _died_, okay?" Holly said, pulling against her chains for emphasis. "If he chooses you, you come back from the dead like an unnatural freak and _I'll _be the dead one."

Angeline clattered her chains and splashed in the water to draw attention. "That is my son right there," she said. "He hasn't been right since I died."

"Or me," Butler added.

"Excuse me? I'm trying to —"

Holly groaned in frustration. "Butler, are you _seriously _vouching to kill me?"

Butler offered up a remorseful face. "Holly, I'm a bodyguard. I think in terms of what's best for my charge. I can protect him better than you. End of story."

"Please stop talking, all of you —"

"No, _not_ end of story," Holly said sharply, fighting to stand and falling on her rump.

"Shut _up!_" Artemis shouted, and the chamber went dead silent, all three of them staring at him with expectant, desperate eyes. "Look... This is more difficult than you know, all of you."

Holly scoffed attempted to throw her hands up before she was stopped by the chains. Artemis raised a hand to silence her, turning to his mother.

"Mum," he said, fighting to keep his voice level. "I miss you more than I ever thought was possible. The boys still cry because you're gone and I still visit your headstone daily."

"I know," she whispered, her huge green eyes welling up. "Artemis, please —"

"But you've been gone for half a year, and this place is hell," Artemis continued. "It's a miracle that I've made it this far, and only via the combined efforts of Holly and Butler. Together, I don't think either of us could survive to the end."

"Arty," she said, and started to cry. He swallowed and forced himself to turn to Butler. Holly interrupted him right as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Artemis, you can't do this," she snapped, exasperated. "Look me right in the eye and tell me that you're not seriously considering killing me to bring back the dead."

Artemis did as she asked, and then faltered. Holly was glaring at him fiercely, still pulling at her chains futilely. But something was off, as he had first thought. Something was very much wrong. After a moment of contemplation, he got it.

Both of her eyes were hazel.

"You're not Holly," Artemis said, rising to his feet. Her eyes widened in confusion, but it seemed a little too forced.

"Artemis, what are you —"

"And therefore, you're not Domovoi, and you," he said, looking the crying woman straight in the face, "are not my mother."

The Angeline look-alike immediately lost her sorrowful expression, screeching inhumanly at Artemis. He stepped backwards as her tongue shot out and began to grow, stretching as her teeth elongated and her jaw began to stretch. He glanced at the fake Holly and Butler and stepped farther away when he saw their images starting to flicker into the same.

Artemis blinked, and before him were three freak monsters chained to the wall and screaming wordlessly at him in fury.

They were nothing but skin and bones, with pointed ears like elves. But their claws were wickedly sharp, and their oversized mouths were crowded with fangs. Enormous batty wings reminiscent of a sprite spread from their bony backs, flapping angrily and smashing against the walls.

Artemis shook his head in wonder, musing at his near trickery and attempting to wipe the fear from his being. He blamed the immobile fog that had been at the back of his mind since he had begun walking through the tunnel, but felt chagrined regardless.

"So you were going to lure me in and eat me," he murmured, tracing his lips with his index finger. "Clever. Temptresses indeed." He eyed their sagging, wrinkled breasts with disgust. "At one point, I imagine you were very beautiful creatures, but when nobody came your way for quite some time and you lost our charm, you resorted to this method. Interesting. As a mastermind, I quite approve."

The three demons yanked at their chains and shrieked at him, their tongues lashing out in a very vain effort to reach him. Artemis crossed his arms, pacing.

"How to get by you, then," he murmured himself, low enough so that they couldn't hear him. "Holly has all the supplies, so I can't hurt you or distract you with food. So the only way... is to turn you against each other."

The wraiths were wailing, the sound bouncing off the wet walls painfully. Artemis grimaced and raised his hand, and they quieted, drooling, their matted hair falling into their wild eyes.

"It seems that I can't get past you," he said. "There is no exit, and all of you are just hungering for my death." As he spoke, he traced his eyes along the bottom of the mossy wall until he discovered faint ripples suggesting a current leading away under the water. "But you have a problem."

The monsters all cocked their heads, listening, still straining, but they seemed understand what he was saying. Their eyes glittered menacingly as their claws undulated at their sides.

"You see," Artemis said, putting on his polite I'm-explaining-something-rather-simple-to-a-bunch-of-imbeciles-and-I-actually-have-to-be-kind-this-one-time face, "I'm rather small. And there are three of you."

Immediately, the demons tensed, their eyes narrowing.

"As I am such a tiny portion, and you all look rather hungry," he said, trying to look rather sympathetic. "Wouldn't it be easier — may I call you Past, Present, and Future, starting from the left? It seems rather fitting, seeing as you are my past, present, and future loved ones to lose. But in any case — wouldn't it be easier if, for example, Past got rid of Present and Future, and therefore had two demons and one skinny human instead of one third of a skinny human?" He shrugged. "Since I'm going to die anyway, one of you might as well get fed well."

The three wraiths snarled, looking bitterly at each other, and began to yank at their bonds, splashing water everywhere as they tried to get at each other.

And at the moment Present looked away to screech at Future, Artemis took an enormous breath and dove into the pool.

It could hardly be called a dive. It looked like a painful belly flop and felt just as bad. The water stung against his burned skin, but Artemis wriggled across the mossy rocks at the bottom of the pool and scraped his hands along the wall, feeling for the current. To his right, there was a dark hole. He scrambled for it.

Above him, muffled through the water, Artemis heard a roar, and something scrabbled at his hiking boot.

He kicked with all of his might and felt his heel make contact, crushing whatever it had hit, and he pulled himself along the bottom as fast as he could. Right before ducking into the hole, he burst above water, took a breath so huge that his lungs ached with it, and plunged back down.

But there was pain. His ribs seared with it, and spots began to appear in his vision as he swam down the tunnel that followed. His swimming was chaotic, slamming him into walls, and _god, _his ribs were on fire, and he couldn't breath even as he swam faster and faster, struggling to get as far away as possible —

Artemis broke the surface gasping, his hands flailing for something to grab hold of. Though his eyes were clouded with water, his fingers found a ledge, and moaning, he pulled himself onto it, his face smacking against the wet stone. It smelled damp and moldy, wherever he was, but he didn't care, not when his fingers were fluttering around the blood soaking his side.

He blinked his vision clear, and found three claw streaks across the right side of his back.

Artemis dropped his head back to the stone, observing his surroundings. He was in a small chamber with no exit, on a small shelf of rock surrounded by water. Only the tiniest bit of light came from another glowing crack in the ceiling, but other than that, Artemis was alone with the mossy rocks and the water.

He pushed hard on his wound to staunch the watery blood that weaving out over the floor, crying out in pain. His mouth felt drier than parchment, and to keep himself from screaming he dunked his head under the water and drank deeply, his tongue reaching out as far as it could get.

And then he opened his eyes and his stomach dropped.

Another tunnel led off straight in front of him. He came up gulping for air, staring behind him, and turned back the way he came from, plunging his head back under. The tunnel he had come from remained. Forgetting his wound for a moment, he resurfaced, eyeing the direction of the other passage with wide, wary eyes.

Theoretically, if there were two and he had come through one, the other would either lead to his next task, or it would lead to Holly.

Without a second thought, Artemis sucked in as much air as he could and dove under.

The tunnel was claustrophobic and nearly pitch black, but Artemis dug his fingers into the gaps between the stones and yanked himself forward as fast as possible. When he saw the murky light, he knew it had been the right decision to take this route. When he saw a bony, chained foot through the gloom, he smirked as much as he possibly could and put on an extra burst of speed.

The temptresses screeched when he exploded out of the water, flailing for the exit of the pool, his heart swelling when he saw Holly looking at him wide-eyed and crazed.

"It's a trick!" he bellowed, pulling himself shakily out of the pool and dropping to his knees in front of her. "Holly, it's an illusion!" He reached for her, but she reeled back, leaning away as if he were some sort of monster.

She was afraid.

Her eyes flicked up over his head and he turned, looking just in time to see the illusions of himself, Julius Root, and some other female elf flicker and be replaced with three chained temptresses. They hissed viciously at Artemis, straining at their bonds.

Holly shrieked and stepped back, her fingers burying into her hair and yanking. Her eyes, unhinged and wide with dementia, agitated wildly over the three monsters on the wall.

"No!" she yelled. "_No!_"

Artemis scrambled to his feet as she advanced and tried to push her back. She shoved him away, causing him to stumble. He rose back up and slapped her, hard, across the cheek.

Holly's head snapped backwards and her hand flew up to cup the sting. When she looked back to stare disbelievingly at him, her eyes belonged more to herself, and she was confused.

"Artemis...?" she asked, and then looked back to the temptresses, her lips curling in disgust. When her gaze returned to him, a hand rose to cup his cheek. "Are you okay?"

"No," he said, sinking back to the floor. She went with him. Behind him, the monsters screeched at them, calling for them to come forward.

"You're bleeding," she said, and immediately yanked out her first aid kit. Artemis noted that her broken arm was bloody again. "Are those _claw marks_?"

"I had to get away somehow," Artemis said through gritted teeth, peeling away his wet shirt so that she could address the wounds. She sucked in air audibly through her teeth when she saw. Artemis closed his eyes.

"They're not deep," she said, trying to find the light in the situation. "But they're sure as hell bloody."

"Stitch me up while the kit's still dry," Artemis said in a low voice, only audible to her while the demons continued to harass them. "They're hungry, Holly. If we can distract them with our food, we can buy a few seconds, and we can both try to get away unscathed."

Holly bit her lip, glanced over his shoulder, and nodded, cleaning his wound with her good hand. He keened gently, clenching his jaw, and shushed him, gently pressing her lips to his forehead.

"Just two more tasks after this," she whispered. "Then we'll be out of here."

"I'm so scared," he breathed, trying to find air through the haze of pain as she began to stitch the mutilated area without the aid of anesthetic.

"Gods, Artemis, this is messy," she said, wincing as he hissed at her actions. "Can you move your arm?"

"Can _you_?" he asked through gritted teeth. Holly's hand paused on his spine, gentle, concerned.

"I'm more worried about you right now, to be honest," she said, and then pressed her forehead to his, closing her eyes, her brow furrowing. "I thought I'd lost you."

Artemis blinked, uncomfortable, and leaned away. "They're signifying time," he said, changing the subject rather obviously. "The one of the left, your past. The middle, your present. The right, your future." He paused, and grimaced when Holly began to stitch again. "The one on the left was your mother, wasn't it?" he groaned.

"Yeah," Holly said. "And then Julius, and then you. I guess if we ever make it out of here alive, you'll be my future."

Somehow, despite being nearly completely focused on how much he hurt, Artemis managed to catch that and flush a deep pink through his sunburn. Holly realized when she had said a moment later. She let go, blushing profusely.

"I mean — we're — Artemis, you're my best friend! You know what I — ugh." She pursed her lips and began to stitch again, perhaps a little more aggressively than she had before. Artemis gasped in pain but had the presence of mind not to jerk away from the needle. "Sorry," she muttered, trying to force the blush away from cheeks. It wasn't helping that Artemis was shirtless right next to her. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him in less. _Way_ less. This shouldn't have been a problem.

"So... Who were yours?" she asked, trying to break the awkward and, for Artemis, painful silence.

"My — rgh — mother, Butler, and — agh! — you," he managed to get out, gnashing his teeth. Holly forced a shaky laugh.

"We're pretty similar, Arty. Okay. Two slashes down. One to go."

Artemis moaned. Behind him, the temptresses laughed manically, straining at their chains. Holly froze, and then cocked her head, her eyes wide. The needle went slack in her hand.

"What are you waiting for?" Artemis groaned. "Just get it over with."

"Their chains," Holly breathed. "Oh, gods. Artemis, their chains are pulling away from the walls."

Artemis whipped around, sucking in a breath. There was a screech as a bolt pulled out of the Past's right bond, crashing into the water with a splash. The demon squawked, cackling wickedly, and unfurled its leathery wings.

"Hurry!" he yelled. Holly began to shakily tend to his wound again, as slow and steady as before. "Quickly, Holly," he snapped. "I don't care if it hurts. Be as rough as you need to, but _hurry up!_"

She screamed her frustration, and the needle plunged deep into Artemis's back. He howled, biting into his left arm hard enough that he tasted blood, and Holly yelled again, ripping the needle through his skin, in and out, in and out...

"Done," Holly said in a shaky voice, casting the needle back into the kit to get it as far away from her as possible. She winced when Artemis got to his feet, wiping the reflexive tears from his cheeks and smearing the tooth-patterned blood from his arm onto his pants. "Artemis —"

"No time," he said, pushing the pain aside as well as he could. Behind him, one of Present's feet broke free, and it bayed, the sound bouncing horribly off the stone walls. Artemis grabbed Holly's shoulders, demanding her attention.

"Get out food, Holly."

She did so, pausing when she held a meager supply cradled against her sling. Her eyes held a question, and she locked onto the boy genius, searching for an answer.

"We can do it," he said, holding out his hands. The temptresses went wild at the sight of food, flipping around and crying out, their bonds ripping violently from the stone. She placed more than half in his hands, and slid the pack onto her body.

"I've got the right," she said. "You get the middle and left. And don't you dare miss. If I fall behind, don't wait for me. One of us has to make it to the finish line."

Artemis nodded stoically, turning to face the demons. She stepped up beside him, pursing her lips.

"On my mark," he murmured as the Future ripped its legs free, shrieking and lusting for the food in their hands. "I'll go in first and lead you to the tunnel. Don't fall behind."

"Artemis, if I don't make it after you —"

"Be quiet," he said sharply, glancing fiercely at her. "You will."

"I love you," she whispered. Mossy rock began to rain down into the water as the wraiths ripped nearly free, smashing their fists and heels into the walls. Artemis's jaw visibly tensed, and he nodded.

"And I love you," he said curtly. "One."

Holly squared her chin, readying her good arm.

"Two."

The Future broke completely free, landing with a splash in the pool, and surfaced sputtering with a roar, it's leathery wings opening to its full span.

"Three!"

Holly hurled the food at the Future. From the corner of her eye, she could see Artemis do the same as both Past and Present ripped free of their bonds and flew to meet the supplies in midair. Artemis flopped into the heaving water, swimming madly for the tunnel.

It was absolutely chaos as he fought to find the passage again, and he hoped the huge splash behind him was Holly hot in pursuit and not stone falling from the wall. He twisted, snakelike, around a bony leg, the claw-like nails scrabbling at the stone with an underwater scraping that sent chills down Artemis's spine. The stitches at his back yanked, screaming.

He surfaced once for air and plunged into the darkness of the tunnel.

It was impossible to tell if Holly was following him. With the raging water behind and the dark chamber beyond, the tunnel faded into complete darkness, and he no breath to spare to call to her through the water. He kicked as hard as he could peeling off his fingernails with the force at which he was pulling himself forward, the walls beginning to close in and his breath beginning to leave him...

Artemis reared out of the water like some sort of spastic sea creature, hauling himself onto the wet rock shelf while sucking in air like he would never have enough. For a second, he lay shuddering, coughing and thanking whatever deity that may or may not have been out there that he was alive, and then he raised his head.

He was alone.

Artemis blinked, watching the water still from his dramatic exit, the ripples slowly beginning to fade away as the action in the water ceased.

"Holly?" he called. It was futile and beneath his intelligence, he knew; she obviously wasn't there. But he had to. "_Holly?_"

The water stilled.

Artemis swallowed loudly, fingers slowly tracing the haphazard, messy stitches in his back. Holly...

Artemis closed his eyes.

"_If I fall behind, don't wait for me. One of us has to make it to the finish line."_

In theory, yes. But he had never imagined that Holly, strong, stubborn Holly would have fallen so _close_ behind him.

But when the clicking came from deep underwater, his eyes flew back open just in time to see a sodden mop of ginger hair explode from the inky depths.

Artemis leapt forward as she crawled to the shelf, coughing madly and attempting to claw her way up with one hand, her broken arm limp. He grabbed her under the armpits and heaved, groaning when a few stitches popped and tore through his skin. Heaving, she collapsed with her head in his lap, only a corner of her lips visible through her matted hair.

"Are you all right?" Artemis asked, winded.

She didn't reply, shaking slightly. He frowned, shaking her shoulder gently.

"Holly?"

Slowly, the elf raised her head, her hair obscuring her face until the last moment. And when she finally met Artemis's eyes, his stomach dropped and he fought the urge to vomit.

Because the only eye looking at him was his.

The right side of Holly's face was a mess of ground, bloody skin, and her eyes socket was littered with juicy white remnants. Through the pouring bloody and mutilated skin, Artemis could make out two slashes digging all the way down to her bones.

"Oh my _god_," he whispered, hands fluttering uselessly around her face.

"How bad is it?" she asked, her speech a little garbled by pain and wound. The corner of her mouth was ripped open.

Artemis hesitated, considering lying, but figured that it wouldn't make it better. "Awful," he said, reaching around to the pack and digging out the driest cloth — her shirt — that he could find, silently thanking his dead bodyguard for making sure the thing was mostly waterproof. "Press this to your face to stop the bleeding," he commanded. "I know it will hurt, but I have to stitch it up. The kit's a little wet, so the string will be —"

"Artemis."

He flicked his gaze up to meet her one remaining eyes — _his _eye — and looked away.

"Am I ever going to see with this eye again?" Holly asked, taking his hand with her good one.

"No," Artemis said regretfully, forcing himself to look into the dark, mutilated socket, searching out the ripped white material scattered around like an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle. "It's ruined, Holly. I'm so sorry."

Holly nodded, shrugged as if it were nothing, and then pressed the shirt to the open wound with nothing more then a clenching of her jaw, trying and failing to cover it fully with her small hand. After a moment, Artemis shakily reached up and pressed down on the spot she was missing. She gulped, but made no more sign of pain.

"You're so strong," he whispered, leaning forward and kissing her good cheek. "I don't know how you do it."

Holly closed her one remaining eye and he cupped her jaw with his open hand, squeezing as gently as possible.

"Did you mean it?" she whispered.

"Did I mean what?" he asked, barely lifting a corner of his hand to check the bleeding before lowering it again. She winced.

"When you said it. Back with the monsters."

Artemis replayed the past few minutes in his head — so fast, but so disastrous — and found what she meant. "That I love you? Of course I do."

Holly's eye was still closed when she leaned forward, and Artemis, not quite paying attention to anything but her bleeding, momentarily thought that she was silently asking him to increase the pressure on her face. He did so, and she hissed in pain an inch from his lips. He blinked, suddenly thrown off guard.

She kissed him and he tasted blood for a single second before leaning back awwardly, eyes wide.

Holly's eyes flashed open, confused, and her brow furrowed when she saw his uncomfortable expression. After a second, her confusion turned to horror.

"Of course I love you," Artemis said slowly, addressing her fears. "You're my best friend."

Holly blushed deeply, and Artemis bit his lip as the blood began to flow fast out of her face as a result. She keened softly, and he apologized gently.

"But... Artemis, you —"

"Holly, you're an elf," he said firmly, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the now completely red shirt. "I'm a human."

"I know that," she said. "But you're different."

"Holly."

"You didn't mind when I kissed you back in time, Artemis!" she snapped, gnashing her teeth when it pulled viciously at the corner of her mouth. Artemis gingerly tucked fabric against the corner of her lips.

"Yes, well, anything joyous from that little trip instantly ceased to be so when my mother died," he retorted, irritated. "Or are you forgetting that fact?"

Holly scowled. "She died more than half a year ago, Artemis," she said angrily. "It's time to let her go and move on with your life."

He reared back as if slapped, letting go of her face, his expression contorted into one of great hurt. A moment later, Holly's scowl turned to an expression of remorse, and she reached for him. He didn't accept her hand.

"Artemis, that was awful of me," she said softly. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking —"

"The bleeding has mostly stopped," Artemis said coldly. "I'll do your stitches and then we'll get out of here."

Holly fought back tears the entire time he quickly and clinically began to reconstruct her face, because despite the neatness of his work and the practiced ease he completed it with, Artemis was neither making an effort nor caring to be gentle.

* * *

**Nyah, nyah, nyahnyah, nyah... I just talked to the hospital people. They say that the cure to my mystery malady is reviews. So if you review, I'll actually be able to do things other than lie down in a bed!**

**...Okay, maybe not. But it would make me happy. Reviews, please?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Rest assured, the next to chapters have been written for about a year and have been shipped off to Ru-Doragon for edits, so they'll be up pretty soon. And yeah, I know, I haven't updated in two months and I majorly suck. You can stone me after you read.**

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**Chapter Twelve**

When he leaned back to inspect his work, Artemis, despite being emotionally injured, felt his heart ache for his best friend.

They had been entirely silent throughout the treatment, through the cleaning and the stitches and, at the end, the wiping away of the dried blood. Artemis knew he hadn't been kind with his treatment, but he had been seething too much to pay attention to the little winces that Holly had tried to hide. Towards the end, when he was wiping away the last of the blood and eye bits, he had slowed, observing the wreckage left behind and doing his best to hide his horror.

The right side of Holly's face was dominated by two long, deep red stripes, made uglier by the black threads that knitted the separated skin together. Where they crossed over her eye, there was only a bloody hole that still sparkled with moisture. They were swollen, puffing up the side of her face, and Artemis sighed and shook his head, choosing the driest piece of clothing that he could from the bag.

Holly didn't ask what he was doing, and remained silent even as he slid the shoddy eye patch fashioned from the hem of Butler's spare pants over her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered after they had sat in still, awkward silence for a few minutes.

"I know," Artemis replied, his voice even. "Are you ready to go?"

Holly cocked her head, confused. "There's no exit," she said.

Artemis shook his head, pointing behind her. Holly turned to see a mossy, rusted ladder climbing up the wall until it disappeared into the darkness. She turned back, baffled.

"It wasn't here earlier," Artemis said with a shrug, wincing as his stitches tugged on his back. "One moment I just looked up and it was there. Can you climb with that arm?"

Holly stood, already attempting to get the pack on one-handed. "I don't think I really have that much of a choice. I'll be fine."

Artemis eyed her skeptically, but made no comment, and chose to zip up the pack instead. "Keep your eye socket as protected as possible," he said. "An infection could lead straight to your brain, and you don't have magic."

Choosing to ignore the fact that Holly refused to look him in the eye, Artemis gently pushed her towards the ladder. "You first," he said. "If you fall, I'll do my best to catch you."

She snorted, grabbing a rusty rung with her one good hand. "So if I fall, I'll plummet to my death."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Fascinating. Even when you're severely injured you manage to make fun of the fact that I have an embarrassing lack of muscle."

"Very embarrassing."

"Yes, yes, I'm physically weak. Now climb."

And climb she did, hitching her good arm around the rungs with every rise, grunting a little at the risky assent. Artemis followed her warily, his muscles starting to ache as the ladder began to stretch further and further up the wet stone walls. The little light there was seemed to come from nowhere in particular, and by the time the floor had disappeared into the gloom, he had started to feel shaky.

"It's been quite a long while since we ate," he called up to Holly after she slipped on the mildew covered ladder for the umpteenth time. "When we get to the top we should rest and indulge in something with protein."

Holly stopped short on the ladder and chanced a look down, practically hanging by her arm. Artemis immediately did not like that look.

"What?" he asked, leaning back a little.

"We don't _have_ any food, Artemis," she said slowly. "I thought you knew."

He stared at her. "You didn't use _all_ of it to get out, did you?" he asked incredulously.

"We didn't have that much left," Holly said glumly. "You said get out the food. There were only a couple of packets of soup mix, a half-bag of dried fruit, and four of those little jerky strips left, and so I divided it up as best I could."

Artemis kept staring at her, his eyes wide, mouth hanging quite ineloquently open. Holly's face was twisted into a guilty grimace, but she wordlessly turned back up and proceeded to keep pulling herself up the ladder. After a moment, Artemis silently began to follow.

They went up, and up, and by the time Holly broke the silence by announcing that she saw light up ahead, Artemis thought his muscles were going to give out and let him drop like a stone down the endless shaft. By the time he managed to heave his body over the edge, he thought his limbs had turned to gelatin.

"It's colder up here," Holly observed, squinting down the dark tunnel, trying to discern where they were. "I think we should prepare to freeze our asses off."

Artemis helped her clamber into her snowsuit and other snow gear, which was cumbersome and painful due to her broken arm, and together they set off down the crude passageway, traveling through the dim, chilly gloom in an awkward silence. After a time, Artemis began to notice ice webbing the stone, and his breath left his lips in little puffs.

"I'm sorry," Holly said out of nowhere. "I screwed up."

Artemis shrugged, looking straight ahead. "Yes," he said. "But if you hadn't, the temptresses most likely would have killed us. Either way, we lose something."

"Between our lives and food, I'll choose the food," Holly said with a very fake brightness.

"The food could mean our lives," Artemis said grimly. "But your technique bought us at least more time to finish this place."

Holly was fixing to open her mouth to reply when they were hit violently by a gust of absolutely freezing air. Squeaking, the cold-sensitive fairy burrowed into her snowsuit, and Artemis, his still brilliantly red skin exploding in pain, did the same.

"Holy g-gods," Holly said, practically shriveling. "How is this k-kind of cold p-possible?"

Artemis gritted his teeth, attempting to force himself forward. Reaching out blindly for Holly's hand, he managed to get out "Let's go."

After all, the longer they waited, the worse it would get.

Soon enough, snow was swirling around the tunnel, and then, as if it had appeared from nowhere, the exit was in front of them, a gaping maw exposing them to a harsh white environment. Together, fairy and human staggered to the blunt edge of a seemingly endless cliff, trying desperately not to look down.

They stood for a moment, trying to decide just what they were supposed to be doing in what was probably the most brutal snowstorm of all time, and Holly summed up their thoughts in one, concise shout.

"D'Arvit!"

Artemis nodded, looking around, and spied a thin, snaking trail heading steeply up the side of the mountain. "I think that is our option," he yelled. "Ladies first. I'm here to catch you."

But it quickly became apparent that the wind was too strong to continue very far in. Both Holly and Artemis felt the freakishly strong currents attempting to rip them from the mountainside, literally forcing their legs out from under them. They scrabbled desperately, fighting tooth and nail to keep a grip on the thin path, Holly constantly grunting in pain as her broken arm was battered. After what felt like and quite possibly was hours, she spotted a thin crack in the sheer rock face rising to their left, and she dragged herself inside, Artemis following suit. The crack was relatively large, and they squeezed themselves into the very back, shivering.

"Y-you ok-kay?" Holly asked, her teeth chattering in such a way that Artemis was assaulted with the perpetual feeling one gets from hearing nails on a chalkboard.

"F-fine," he replied shortly. "W-we have t-to ride out-t the st-torm."

"D-do you th-think it'll end-d?" Holly asked, snuggling up to him. Artemis frowned at the frozen tears on her face.

"D-don't know," he replied, too cold to bother with proper grammar. "B-body heat. N-now."

Holly buried her head into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her. Even with a full snowsuit, gloves, and boots, her heat penetrated his shield and provided some semblance of relief. Artemis shrugged his nose from his suit and buried it in her hood.

The hours dragged by, and the hunger pains began to return. Holly fell deeply asleep in his arms, her body shutting down as it tried, in vain, to restore some vague imitation of health and fix the trauma it had suffered. Artemis, however, could not sleep, haunted by visions of things he had seen and kept awake by the fear of never waking up.

All he wanted was to be home.

And for a moment, Artemis could close his eyes and bury his nose in Holly's hair and pretend to forget where he was. And because he was Artemis Fowl, maybe he actually could have convinced his mind to wipe itself if the light hadn't come.

At first it was just warmth against the cheek that was facing the cold, something dreamlike and pleasant, and then it felt golden, and when he finally opened his eyes and looked up, it _was_ golden.

The crack still opened to the thin little snow-covered path, but the harsh light of the moon was gone, as was the valley far below and the swirling ice and snow. The path simply melted away to lush grass, a green that only belonged to Ireland and a tree-line that looked suspiciously like it belonged to Fowl Manor. Confused, Artemis ran Holly's hair through his fingers, and then his lips parted in surprise as she danced into view in front of him.

It was impossible. She was laughing — when had he last seen her laugh? — and healthy, with both shining eyes and strong arms and glowing skin, pulling something out of view. And then Artemis followed her, letting her lead him, tall and gangly and plain awkward, rolling his eyes but allowing a smile. His white skin looked wrong in the golden light, but for the occasion of summertime he had opted to trade his normal tie and jacket with a silk vest. Holly was even in a summer dress. Even knowing this illusion was obviously just that — and _illusion — _Artemis gently moved Holly off his chest, propping her on the pack, and turned to feast his eyes on the sight.

They were together. Laughing, holding hands. Not saving the world, or each other. Just enjoying each other's company.

Impossible.

Their laughter echoed, muted, bouncing through empty space, and then came a youthful shout from beyond, and they looked around.

A soccer ball entered, followed by, as always, Beckett, though he was no longer toddling. Perhaps seven or eight, pleading for Holly to play with him, and she consented, letting go of Artemis's hand to indulge the boy. And as was his custom, Myles followed his other half, attempting to play and really only embarrassing himself, but it was apparent that he didn't mind too much. Beckett's blond curls bounced in the sunlight, Artemis and Myles's dark locks drank it up, but Holly's hair was like firelight in the beauty of the scene.

In the snowy cave, Artemis swallowed loudly, licking his lips and drinking in the picture.

He didn't even notice his mother enter the scene from the other side until she was behind dream-Artemis, her skin healthy, her hair shining again, her wonderful, one-of-a-kind smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around her son's shoulders. Artemis allowed himself to lean back into his mother's embrace, raising a hand to touch her arm, and keeping his eyes on the game. After a moment, his father followed, pecking his eldest on the cheek before going forth to join the ranks. And then Butler was there, and it was the three Fowls, Butler and Holly, all wrestling in the grass and laughing and looking so impossibly happy, and there, off to the side, was Artemis with his _mother_ —

Artemis blinked, and it was gone, replaced with something just as golden-lit and impossible. He and Holly were hiking in the woods, she seeking something and dragging him along, he rolling his eyes with the tiniest of smiles and shaking his head at her antics. She was insistent, telling him she was sure they would miss it, pulling him hurriedly up the side of a hill he didn't very much seem to want to climb. But he was doing it, he _did _it, for her. And when they got to the top and the trees broke, there was nothing exiting but a drop-off and Irish countryside bathed in the same golden light that had always been there. Pretty, but normal for an Irishman.

And on the top of the hill, Artemis turned to the redheaded woman who was obviously his lover, opening his mouth to complain. She pushed a finger to his lips, her eyes fixed on the horizon were the sun was waiting to rise.

"Watch," she whispered, and both dream-Artemis and real-Artemis did as she commanded.

They waited, and then the sun exploded across the sky as it greeted the world.

Holly threw her hands into the air, and subsequently one of Artemis's, and screamed in joy as red streaked across the clouds and stained everything in light. For once, the Irishman was speechless, his eyes feasting not on the landscape that so captivated his elf, but the elf herself, beautiful and wild in her happiness. And then she looked to him, and saw the sparks in his eyes, and kissed him.

Artemis didn't know when he had stood, but he was on his feet, staring hungrily as the red and gold melted into each other until it was all gold again, an endless plane of nothing but golden light, and he and Holly hand in hand, the impossible pair in the summer dress and vest.

"Daddy!"

The little voice was piercing, and dream-Artemis turned around just as a little girl toddled in from the right, her hands held up for her father. And her father smiled, and let go of his wife to scoop the little thing up, hoisting her high into the air, and they were all three laughing, and Artemis thought his heart was going to break.

The three of them; Holly, Artemis, and their child... that child was crawling all over them, giggling, and the little monkey finally settled on Holly's back. Artemis's hand slipped into Holly's again and they turned to walk away, only for Artemis to look back once more and reach his hand out, allowing the older boy, perhaps nine, to hurry forward to grasp his father's hand.

"It's not real, Artemis," Holly murmured from his side.

Artemis started, looking down. He hadn't been aware that he had walked forward to the edge of the mountain path, or that she had woken up and followed him and seen what he saw. He looked back, but the scene was gone, and the golden light was fading quickly to reveal the deep valley again.

"I know," he whispered. "I'm not... condoning it. I just..."

"Yeah," Holly said.

They stood there together for one long, never-ending moment, looking somberly out into the stark ravine. After a long while, when the cold had begun to creep back into their bones, Holly finally broke the silence.

"I thought you said —"

"I don't know what I want, Holly," Artemis interrupted heavily. "I mean, I _do_ — I want to be home with my mother and Butler and I want you to be as healthy and healed as is worldly possible and I want for every fairy that has lost their life to this to be alive again and I want Opal Koboi to be _dead_. But as for the future? I'm lost."

"That's not something you often admit," she said softly, the wind almost carrying away her voice. Artemis snorted.

"This isn't a situation I'm normally _in_," he countered.

Holly offered up a little humorless huff of a laugh. "When are our adventures ever normal, Artemis?"

"You're wrong there," Artemis said tonelessly. "This is not an adventure. In between adventures, I missed putting our lives on the line and pulling off a completely ridiculous scheme by a bizarre combination of luck and our given team's abilities. They were a challenge. I had to — God forbid — actually _utilize_ all of my considerable brainpower." He closed his eyes, letting the growing wind toss his hair around. "But this isn't one of our little adventures, Holly. This is the absolute deepest, darkest circle of Hell."

She didn't answer, and he stayed with his eyes closed as the wind began to howl and force him to fight for balance. Briefly, he felt her fingers snuggle into the pocket of his coat and squeeze his before she ripped them away with a small, strangled huff.

His eyes still closed, Artemis's brow creased. "What?" he asked. She didn't reply, and when he opened his eyes, he felt his stomach drop all the way to the bottom of the valley.

Because Holly wasn't on the cliff anymore. She was hanging over the ravine in a swell of freak wind, her eye wide, her lips a round "O" of surprise, and her feet kicking as if, somehow, she could bring herself back to the safety of her horrorstruck friend.

Even before he heard her whisper his name, Artemis knew it was over.

* * *

**I really do apologize, life got absolutely crazy in every way possible, be it good, bad, or ugly. But now I'm in high school, college, and two different theatre companies all at the same time while attempting a full-length screenplay and a novel. Also I can drive, which opens up a world of possibilities (which actually means drive-your-brother-here-and-go-get-groceries). So really, it's good that the next two chapters have been written for a long while, or you wouldn't be getting them for quite some time. I'm very, very excited about them, though.**

**Review, please!  
**


	13. Chapter 13

**Many thanks to my rockin' beta, Ru-Doragon, who managed to turn around my stubborn insistence that you can do things with limbs that are dead. This one's a little short out of necessity. Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Thirteen**

Artemis wasn't even conscious of his screaming until Holly was halfway out of his sight down the mountain.

She held his gaze as long as she possibly could, her mouth open in calm surprise, her fingers straining at him as if he could pull her back. Wind buffeted her hair as she hit the first rock, some vital bone in her body shattering and rendering her as weightless as a rag doll in the gale, her eyes rolling back and cutting her off from him. Even as he watched, completely horrified, he was forced to accept that Holly was gone, and that the figure bouncing down, held aloft by the wind, was nothing more than her shell.

But all too soon, her body vanished into the swirling, heaving mist.

Artemis held desperately to the shelf of rock, stuffing his slim frame into the crack in the cliff face, trying not to let the terrified tears fall and freeze on his face. The howling wind no longer sent a thrill of fear down his stomach, but rather seemed to be mocking him and the life it had just taken.

Time was meaningless. All he could process as the hours of wind and burning ice passed by was that he was on top of the worst place in existence and that he was alone. He'd already lost his mother, and now this place had been so cruel as to take away his only two friends. Everything was over, because what was the point of saving the world when he had no reason left to live in it?

Artemis closed his eyes to the force of the storm, letting himself believe for a moment that he was going to give up.

The wind died down then, almost like he had convinced it that he would lay down and succumb to its power. He forced himself to stand upright, joints frozen from the many hours he had spend curled into the crevice, his body weary. The mist had cleared, and the view would have been spectacular had his heart not been so heavy with loss, the valley stretching on forever, covered with a pinkish hue from the rising sun. He looked, somewhat irrationally, for Holly, but to no avail. Even if he had been able to see past the faraway treetops, she would have been long covered with the fresh snow that coated the forest far below.

Dimly, Artemis knew that he had to go on. He had come so far and lost so much and there were two worlds that had fates resting on the shoulders of his actions. So, with much trepidation, Artemis turned a blind eye to the tips of his frostbitten fingers, slowly dying in his gloves, and the blood and filth and burn on his cheeks and began to trudge up the winding path once more.

The path became steeper the higher he walked up the mountain, until he was forced to use his sluggishly blackening hands to pull himself up, his now-dead fingertips unable to feel the ice and rock he was trawling through. On and on the path wound up the side of the unforgiving mountain, until his muscles screamed for reprieve, his head swimming from the exertion and the dizzying drop below.

At some point long beyond lucidity, Artemis found himself thinking that he would normally be unable to breathe at this altitude. This place couldn't possibly exist, ignoring the laws of physics like that, but he knew it had to. No hallucination could pass for anything like this at all.

Unwilling to spare another second of brainpower on the concept, he found another handhold and wiped the thought away, mindlessly pulling himself higher and higher.

Hours passed before he reached a flat expanse of rock jutting out perhaps three feet from the side of the mountain. At the end of the plane the path simply ended, dropping away into nothingness. All that was left was an expanse of sheer cliff, perhaps seventy meters high. Convenient holes and cracks were peppered along the face of the rock, not too close together that it would be easy for anyone to climb up, but close enough that it would be possible. Artemis shivered in his heavy coat, the cold cutting right through and attacking his core.

The seventh task stood, simple and unhiding, in front of him.

A glowing, blueish light emanated from the peak, as if the summit was calling to him. There, he knew the magic waited. His if he could reach it. At one point he knew he would have used that power for endless dominance over the world, but now he couldn't find the energy to figure out what he would do with himself once he finished Opal.

Blankly determined, he reached out and dug his fingers into the first hole on the wall, stuffing his foot into a crack near the base until he could pull himself up. Slowly, ever so slowly, Artemis began to climb straight up, dragging himself up the face of the cliff. There he was prey to the elements, the wind ripping at his clothing, the ice ripping at his face. Gritting his teeth against the burn in his muscles, he inched up the cliff, pulling himself closer and closer to his goal with each and every reach.

Eventually, he became aware of the fact that he was talking to himself. It was almost as if his mind were separate from his body, his brain forming words and pumping them through his mouth, his voice ripping from his body as he hauled himself up the cliff. He had no idea how long he had been talking — or yelling, rather — but he couldn't seem to stop himself, senselessly shouting at himself in languages he couldn't even understand, screaming for rest and justice and death.

Somewhere along the line, his gloves had disappeared. Blood froze, trickling down his arms as the rock grew sharper, cutting into the now-dead tissue on his palms, gluing his coat to his skin. He could no longer feel his nose, ears, or lips, and his eyes were beginning to have difficulty opening and closing. His feet, once sliding around to grip the rock, hung limp, nothing more than weak levers to push him upwards.

Twenty meters to go.

He groaned, knowing that his muscles were failing, trying desperately to pull himself higher. How many hours had passed since he had begun his vertical journey? It could have been one and it could have been a thousand. He wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. He didn't even know what he knew anymore. It was as if the cold and the wind and the horror had wiped his mind, destroyed his genius and thrown his body into a state of complete chaos.

Ten meters.

He slipped, unable to grip at the icy, razor-sharp rock face, and fell perhaps a meter before his fingers caught in a crevice, halting his descent. Had he been able to feel his fingers break and the bones tear through the skin, he would have screamed, but all he could do was stuff his feet into holes and try to pull himself up. He couldn't give up, he knew he couldn't. Not when he was so close to winning...

Artemis was sobbing by the last five meters, his eyes nearly frozen shut with tears and frostbite, his hands and feet and face so numb and blackened that he knew that he would never feel them again. The blue light radiating from the peak of the mountain was a beacon, pouring over the side of the cliff, spilling across the sky like one last joy, one last motivation. He groaned through each cry that tumbled from him, limbs about to give out, and muscles like cold fire through his body. So close, yet so impossibly far away. There was no way he could make it…

And then his hand clamped down on the edge of the cliff.

He almost laughed, then, but was kept from doing so as the wind picked up even more, threatening to rip him right off the side of the rock. He dug the remains of his fingers into the ice, straining, _yearning_ to get to the top, to reach the pinnacle and leap into the warmth of the blue light spilling over the edge. That was all that mattered; when he was a god, he would be free of Imperium, and the bones in his fingers would not be shattering outside of his skin, and his body and soul would be healed, and Holly and Butler and his mother would be pulled from the cage of death, and his father would love him and he would be able to smile for real and know that he was the most powerful being on earth.

And Opal would be dead.

With a final scream that sent blood flying through his throat, Artemis hauled himself up the last few centimeters, the effort sending burning knives through the last muscles that retained feeling, his nerves finally giving out to the cold that he had battled so terribly with for hours and hours. But it was worth it when he received his reward, relief rushing through him as the sight of his goal was revealed to him; a simple, glowing blue orb resting atop a dais, rushing with every whisper and motion of the universe in the past, present, and future. For a moment, Artemis just hung there, halfway on top of the flat-topped mountain, gaping at the beauty of the thing, knowing that what he had suffered for was there, just a few meters across a flat snowy plain, waiting for his touch…

The shudder of the earth awoke him, and he panicked as the edge of the cliff began to crumble and he lost his footing. Despite his desperate grappling for purchase in the thick layers of snow with crushed fingers, Artemis began to fall, crying out in horror and loss and pain and anger and everything else.

The blue orb, his ticket to everything that mattered, disappeared from view, and everything seemed to go completely silent. It was almost peaceful, falling amongst the pieces of the cliff he had toiled over, the wind buffeting his hair and clothing. He could no longer feel the pain of it all, just the gentle cascade of a breeze as his body rushed down to meet the earth. It wasn't fair, he couldn't have lost after all that, after everything…

Maybe his body would land somewhere near Holly's.

The blue light spilling over the cliff, growing smaller and smaller, seemed only to mock him, and so Artemis closed his eyes, and was therefore unprepared for when he hit the first rock.

Everything below his neck went completely numb as his spine splintered into shards, his heart and lungs stopping immediately. It was almost paradise, his body violently jolting without feeling, and though his brain began to shut down, Artemis was fully aware of what was happening. The next rock shattered the bones in his pelvis, sending his legs flipping around at grotesque angles, and when he landed brusquely in the snow, sliding for a long time before he stopped, his legs were completely flipped around, his arms at distorted angles around his head and under his body.

Knowing how much he was ruined, Artemis managed to open his eyes and stared at the sky as Imperium began to cloud at the edges.

Somehow, he wasn't dead yet, though he knew he only had moments. Perhaps it was some desperate illusion, but the blue radiating through the snow-filled sky seemed to explode, shooting out in all different directions.

Artemis's heart was stone-cold in his chest, his blood freezing in his veins. He wanted to cry like a child, but he couldn't. He should be dead, he _wanted _to be dead so that he could find the people he had lost when they had died by his doing, because this was his fault, _all _of it, Holly and Butler and his mother… were his fault.

And everyone else in the world that was to follow, every man and woman and child under or on the earth that would be slain by Opal would be his fault, because despite his best efforts, Artemis couldn't stop her. He had lost, and this time there was no happy ending, no friendly punches on the arm or witty banter or tender hugs between friends to lighten the blow. This was it. This was the end.

The last thought to pass through Artemis Fowl's freezing mind before he died, snow beginning to cover his broken body, was that Opal had won, and he had lost.

* * *

**I sit on the side of the road holding a sign that says "Will update for reviews." (Subtle and classing it up.)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Last of the chapters I have fully written. I'm kind of stuck on the next one and school is, shall we say... kicking my ass? I made my calender for the next few months today and almost exploded. You know those really dumb people who are too gung-ho and sign up to do everything and then realize that no matter how much they want it to happen, there will never be eight days to a week?**

**Yeah. Pretty much. Many thanks to Ru-Doragon, and enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

The churning feeling underneath was almost like water.

Dimly, his brain rebelled against this realization, as the last feeling under his back had been the numbness of snow seeping through his clothing. Surely it hadn't all melted away. And even if it had, surely he couldn't have been feeling it. After all, he had fallen a long way. He was dead, wasn't he?

But the feeling of water remained.

Slowly, he realized that he had a physical body. First it was his fingers, and then he felt the weight of his arms, followed by his legs, and then, bit by bit, his torso and the weight of his clothes. When at last he felt his eyelids, he opened his eyes to a brilliant, clear night sky, the most stars he had ever seen smattered across the utter blackness stretched over his being. There was a strange, almost mystical quality to the sky, as if he were looking without barriers into space. Perhaps this was a dream, if his body was still shutting down on the mountaintop. Because in real life it was impossible to see the planets, to see the other solar systems and the beauties of outer space in such perfect clarity. To feel as though he could simply reach out and touch the moon without even straightening his arm all the way. What a beautiful dream to end his life.

"You're not dreaming."

He blinked, having been unaware that someone else was with him. Until then, he had seen nothing but the sky, captivated by the utter starkness of it, and hadn't once thought to look around. With great effort, he pulled his head up and observed; he was dressed in simple linen clothing, lying on a simple wooden construction almost like a floating dock, aged with time and the flowing of the water it was supported by. The water, darkened by the night, seemingly went on forever, fading away in an odd gray mist, making him feel strangely as though he were lost at sea.

"If you'd like to think of this place as the sea, I suppose you may, though it would be quite incorrect."

He craned his neck. Behind him sat a little girl, her back to him, dipping her feet over the edge of the dock and into the water. Unsure of how to reply, he simply looked at her.

"Funny. I've been watching you, and even alone you were never speechless."

She did not move when she spoke, only watching her feet reflect the moonlight underwater in a way that was nearly ghostlike. Her brown hair, pulled back into pigtails, was strangely streaked with silver.

"Come now, Artemis. You strike me as intelligent. Take a guess at where you are."

She turned to face him, once again rendering him speechless. Her hair was not streaked with silver, but gray, and her eyes couldn't seem to decide what color they were, and there were wrinkles on a face that should have been young, weathering characteristics to her body that should only have come with age.

"Guess," she said again.

"Purgatory?"

She rolled her eyes. "You Catholic types, twisting everything up. There's no such thing." She looked at him, her eyes nearly laser-like in their intensity, almost as if she were scanning him like a barcode. "To be fair, you just physically died, so your brain is apt to being a bit muddled from transport. I'll give you a clue, then; you've been here before."

A pause, as he thought. "Limbo."

She smiled slightly. "Indeed."

"But if I've been through Limbo before, why haven't I seen this place?"

She pulled her feet out of the water and faced him, cross-legged. "There are two states of Limbo; that of existence, and that of non-existence."

He sat up as well. "And this is non-existence."

"Wrong." She clapped her hands onto her knees and leaned back so far that the tips of her curly pigtails dipped into the water, her eyes reflecting the stars. "In the other state of Limbo, the one you were in before, you did not exist. You simply were. Your body was whisked out of time and space so completely that for a three year period, you did not exist anywhere. Do you understand thus far?"

He hesitated, and then nodded slowly.

She sat up. "Good. Here, you exist. While your physical body is dead and preserved, your mind is still intact and in the same time, although not in the same space, therefore rendering you tied to this dimension. Thus, you are. You exist."

He nodded his understanding again, and then frowned. "Then you're a figment of my mind?"

"No, you silly boy, of course not. Rather, you are a figment of mine, as all the legends say."

Artemis blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Nonchalant, she spread her little arms wide. "I am God," she said simply. "At least, to you I am. I am also Allah, Jehovah, Bhudda, Zeus, Rah, Vishnu... Any deity you want me to be." She smirked at Artemis's expression. "You wonder why I'm a girl."

"Ah... Yes. Christianity always refers to God as - "

"He. Him. Male, to be frank." She sighed. "It's rather bothersome, being referred to as a male by nearly everyone when, by human standards, you are the Mother."

"A little girl being a so-called 'mother' is somewhat disturbing."

"To you, perhaps. I find a child's outlook to be fascinating."

"That is quite beside the point."

"Is it?"

Artemis, for once, had no answer, and they simply watched each other for a time.

"I suppose I should keep a more open mind," he said, somewhat bitterly.

She gave him a knowing smile. "You've never resisted having one before. You have one of the most open human minds I have ever seen."

"Who else is on your list?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she said, her eyes practically burning into him. "Sometimes I think you're too curious for your own good."

"Was I too curious in coming here?"

God said nothing, her huge eyes, which had been a steady emerald green, morphing into a dark, deep blue exactly matching those of the bodyguard who had given his life so Artemis could save the world. Unwilling to remember, Artemis looked away into the moonlit water.

"You gave up much to make it here," God said contemplatively. "I've been thinking long and hard as to your motives."

Artemis found himself unable to come up with a retort.

"The thing about being God is that you know different outcomes that could occur before they even come close to occurring," she said. "No matter what the outcome, your life was always fascinating. You're a selfish creature, Artemis. I did not expect you to even try to hold your family together after your mother's death. I did not expect you to choose to journey through Imperium for reasons other than revenge. And yet you managed to surprise me. Being God can be horrendously boring at times. You caught my interest. You're a fascinating human being."

"What's the use of being fascinating?" Artemis said, shrugging. "I used to think it was important to be brilliant. A new sense of morality has put that into perspective for me."

"Yes, you and death have exchanged many cards as of recent, haven't you."

A thought occurred to Artemis. "Now that I have proof that there is a god, I have to wonder why you made the human and fairy life-spans so radically different."

"I'm not a magician, Artemis," God sighed, dipping her long, pale fingers into the water. "While I did shape the barest skeleton of the universe, I cannot manipulate the events that unfold. I am here to watch and to judge. Life belongs to you. What happens after is my decision."

Artemis clutched his knees to his chest, keeping his eyes on his bare feet. "Is there an afterlife for me?" he asked softly.

"For you?" she asked, cocking her head and thinking. A small smile crossed her aged face, as if she knew something he didn't. "Yes, I believe there is."

"And Holly? Domovoi?"

"I'd watch how many questions you ask if I were you. Not many people find the opportunity to converse with their deity."

"But I have so _many_," he said, dropping his head into his hands.

"Your mother is well-off," God said as if she had read his mind - which, he reminded himself, she probably had.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," she replied simply. "And yes, I am a member of a species."

Artemis sighed, trying to come to terms with the concept of his mind being stripped naked in front of the most judgmental figure in all of everything. "Please, feel free to explain."

God smiled, humoring him. "I figure you deserve to know at least _some_ of the mysteries of everything," she said. "I come from a race that has no word in any languages you know. We do not do much, but at the same time, we do everything. We are the dreams, and the thinkers, and we bring upon the imagination of everything."

Artemis stared.

"The entire universe that you know and beyond are merely what I have created by thinking about," God said. "You are merely a speck in the endless canvas of my imagination. The beings I have brought into existence by letting my thoughts run free." She frowned. "I am not the most creative of my kind. I do what I can, but on occasion I am allowed to catch a glimpse at other worlds. I am constantly floored by the plainness of the universe I have created." She cocked her head. "I don't understand your feelings."

"You've created us on a whim," Artemis said, gritting his teeth. "Not for some divine purpose. You've given us the ability to feel useless hope and pain and loss and sorrow, all for the expense of your enjoyment."

God shrugged. "So? It is what I do by nature. Do you feel anger toward a predator that kills its prey, as per nature?"

"It's _different_," Artemis said sharply. "All of us that you've ever created or will create — we're _real_. These feelings you give us are the bane of our existence. And we're nothing but a grand-scale _project_."

"And how do you figure those feelings are real if all of this is just happening in my imagination?"

"It doesn't _matter_!" Artemis snapped. "We are not your playthings!"

God curled her legs to her chest, her eyes flashing white before morphing into a color Artemis had no name for. "No," she said. "You're not. Yet, Artemis, can you imagine how impossibly _dull_ your life would be without those real feelings you have?"

He faltered, and then shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I would give up all the feelings in the world to have back the people I love."

"Ah, but you see," God said smartly, "then you wouldn't love them."

Artemis's lips parted wordlessly.

"By giving you pain and suffering," God said, "by fusing your lives with anger and hate and sadness, I've also given you joy. I've given you hope, and love. Don't you see?" She leaned forward, cupping Artemis's face in her narrow hands. "There are certain rules even _I_have to follow when I create concepts as complex and grande as these. Why can't you stop being human enough to see the incredible gift I've given your kind?"

Artemis closed his eyes, leaning his face into the hands that were both strong and fragile.

"You see so much for what you are, human," she whispered. "But you are so close seeing to what I see that I forget that I made your kind with limits."

"Take care of us," Artemis murmured. "We did what we could."

"I know you did," God said. "I didn't make Opal Koboi do what she did. I couldn't possibly have changed her way. I only watch the tapestry I've weaved. You know that."

"I do."

"She is still killing."

Artemis opened his eyes, meeting hers, which were now a familiar fiery red. "Yes," he said. "I want you to give the power to him."

"It will be done," she replied, nodding. "It's time for you to sleep, Artemis."

He nodded slowly.

"I'm proud of you," she said. "For a human being, you really are spectacular."

"And for a member of whatever species you are," Artemis replied, "you have done quite well."

"I try," she said, and she gently drew him down so that he was again laying on the dock, facing the stars. "You are brilliant, Artemis. You have gained much, and lost much, but the greatest achievement in your life has been learning how to love."

Artemis closed his eyes against the marvelous sky.

"Goodnight, Artemis Fowl," God whispered, and then there was nothing.

* * *

**Feeeeeeeeeedback please!**


	15. Chapter 15

**To my very dear readers,**

It has been a very long time since we've seen each other. Thank you to all of you who messaged me asking where I had gone to and if I was okay — it truly meant the world to me. These past months have been a very difficult time in my life, wrought with painful events and realizations and some very arduous choices. Writing was buried beneath countless trials and tribulations. But things are looking up, and I'm writing this from an airplane that marks a new chapter in my life. Imperium is back on its feet and nearing its closing, and is to be followed by another work in the Artemis Fowl fandom that remains untitled as of now. Thank you for your patience, thank you for your concern, and most of all, thank you for still believing in me when I didn't believe in myself.

Much love,

Matt

P.S. For those of you who watch BBC Sherlock, I have a work in progress in that fandom that you should mosey over and check out. For those of you who don't watch BBC Sherlock; why the hell don't you? Go watch it (I'm afraid you'll have to pirate the second series if you live in the US, but season one is available on Netflix [or you can buy the DVDs, I think]), and then mosey over and check out my work if you like.

Please enjoy, and remember: reviews are always appreciated.

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

As far as he was aware, death wasn't supposed to be cold.

It took his mind a moment to figure out that he had a body, and then the pain hit him. His bones ached, his muscles burned, lying limp and unable to move save for a slight shivering. He found his voice, so he moaned his discomfort, but there didn't seem to be anything around him. He briefly wished for the warm, soothing environment of Limbo, safe upon a dock, rising and falling with the swell of the sea. What had he done to deserve a death like this?

Irritating sounds filled the space around him. They were muted and slow, and he wished he could open his eyes and see this new world he had come into. What was heaven like, or hell? Or perhaps it was simply a new form of Limbo, one he had yet to experience.

"Note signs of consciousness, 8:46 pm."

He stirred, confused. A rubbery thing touched his forehead, and after a moment his brain registered the shape as a hand. He edged his heavy, aching head away from it, trying to convince his body to move fully. His tongue lay slack in his mouth, his eyes heavy and sunken deep into his skull.

"Alert the on-call medic. He's waking up."

Medic? Was this a sick joke? Or was Saint Peter waiting under a pseudonym, cheekily waiting to check him into the gates of heaven? But no, heaven couldn't hurt this much, it had to be hell…

"Body temperature is low. Have them schedule a new neural scan for damage in the control cortex."

His brain? Physical bodies couldn't matter in a place after death. Were they mending him before his judgment? Was this where Holly had gone, and Butler, and his mother…?

"Mr. Fowl," a voice said, uncomfortably close. "You're in a hospital in Haven. You're going to be just fine. We have the finest team of doctors and warlocks available treating you."

But it couldn't be. He had died.

Something was different from his last time in Haven. There was no stress, no fear in the voice beside his ear. Something soft and slightly dry brushed his forehead. Lips, he figured out after a moment.

"You're a hero," the voice breathed. "Thank you."

When he finally managed to crack his eyes open, he was met with blackness. He whimpered involuntarily, his head thrashing weakly on the pillow, fearing the worst for a second, but a hand touched his forehead again.

"It's just a blindfold," the nurse above him said. "Your eyes will be very sensitive to light."

He wasn't blind, then. With shaking, atrophied hands he reached up and slipped the cloth over his head. The nurses did not stop him, and he opened his eyes slowly to the Haven hospital room, squinting at the dim light.

"Welcome back to reality, Mr. Fowl," an aging sprite said. He recognized her voice as the disembodied entity whispering him back into the land of the living.

Artemis. He was Artemis Fowl the Second, and he was waking up after losing everything in a place that should never have existed. He was fifteen. He was aching, and tired, and dear _god_, he was scared.

"You've been out for nearly a full month," the other nurse, a young male pixie, said briskly, tending to the plethora of IVs attached to Artemis's left hand. "The recovery team picked up your DNA signature somewhere in rural Ireland. By the time they got to you, they thought there was no way of saving your life."

The other nurse stroked Artemis's forehead when he grimaced at the tugging of the IV, shooting her partner a disapproving look. "The demon warlock, No. 1. He was able to pull up the final dregs of power he got and pull you back. Medical miracle. A lot of people thought you wouldn't wake up, but your brain waves and blood pressure have been in your favor for about a week now."

Artemis licked his dry lips slowly. Aside from deep aching, he was slowly beginning to realize that he wasn't in serious pain. There were no stabbing aches where there should have been, no throbbing bones sticking out into the air, no crusted, dried slashes yanking at his skin…

"What happened?" he tried to say, but his voice was gone. The pixie hurried off to get him some water. Before the door managed to swing closed, a stumpy arm intercepted it, flinging it open and revealing a demon warlock sporting a grin so wide that it should have been criminal.

"Artemis!" No. 1 exclaimed, practically bouncing into the room. "How wonderful, marvelous, superb, brilliant! I came as soon as Foaly noticed your vitals increasing. I thought I might find you awake. How do you feel? Everything connected right?"

With great effort, Artemis wiggled his toes. No. 1 frowned, prodding his legs.

"Yes, you'll be atrophied for a while longer," he said, sighing. "Not much to be done about it. I'm just glad your legs are working. The tests say that your spinal cord reattached all right, but I really couldn't be sure until you were awake to test it yourself…" He shook off his gloom, unveiling his grin again. "So, now that you're awake, we'll start physical therapy, run some tests on your brain, and hopefully have you back to Fowl Manor within a couple of weeks!"

The pixie returned with the water, but Artemis's hands were shaking so much that he couldn't maneuver the glass to his lips. The sprite gently raised his head for him and carefully dribbled the water into his mouth. It was pure bliss on the dry landscape of his tongue.

"I guess you're wondering what happened," No. 1 said. "I'll show you the video feeds when I can get a screen in here. It's beautifully epic. I think they're drafting a screenplay already." The imp shook his head, reproachful. "It was glorious for me, but you nearly gave Butler and Holly a heart attack when you showed up."

The bed quivered as Artemis bucked in surprise, mistakenly having attempted to sit up straight. His muscles had rudely refused to comply, resulting in a weak flop. No. 1 blinked.

"Oh, right. I guess you thought they died, didn't you?" he asked brightly. "They both turned up within minutes of your entrance into Imperium, in positively dismal states. Butler landed within a mile of Fowl Manor. It was quite a task to get him down here without your father noticing, and healing was a nightmare. He had enormous puncture wounds through his chest, but he's perfectly fine now, better than he has been in years. And Holly was absolutely shattered, just like you but less frozen. She turned up at Tara, which was far easier to get too quickly. Trouble almost didn't let me take a pod up there, but you don't ignore the very firm wishes of your most powerful weapon in a time of war… are you all right?"

Artemis was staring at the ceiling, his eyes welling up.

"Oh," No. 1 said softly. "They're okay, Artemis. They didn't die."

"I know," Artemis rasped with great difficulty, trying to quell the relief that was making him ache with tears. "Oh, god, I thought…"

"Yeah," No. 1 said. "They thought you were dead though, even though they were back. Unlike them, you didn't show up for a few weeks after your entrance. But before that, when you appeared in your god-like form –"

"Excuse me?" Artemis wheezed.

No. 1 cocked his head. "You don't remember? How strange, odd, bizarre, outlandish. You were quite frightening."

"Did I… fight her?" he asked. "Opal?"

"Eh… sort of," No. 1 said. "I was on the ground. She had just summoned a huge amount of power and tried to completely decimate Haven with it, but I had managed to create a force field that destroyed most of the blast. Unfortunately, I absorbed the rest of it and I was knocked out. You were almost like an angel. A really scary angel. You were in a suit and you looked perfectly fine except you were kind of glowing, and… well, you have to see the video Foaly put together from the helmet feeds. It's awesome. I almost wet myself."

"I have no memory of that," Artemis murmured. "Can I see them?"

No. 1 blinked, confused. "See who?"

"Butler and Holly, of course."

"Oh, right! I forgot." He shrugged, patting Artemis's sore IV hand. "Too many things on my mind, I suppose. Having god magic for a while makes you feel extremely giddy, you know." He nodded, assuring himself. "I'll go make a call and tell them that you're awake. They'll probably cause some traffic accidents to get here fast, but I can fix whatever damage they cause no problem."

He thudded from the room, his little imp nub shivering slightly with excitement. Artemis sighed, knocking his head weakly back into the pillows. The sprite, who had been standing in the corner of the room, chuckled slightly, adjusting the bags on his IV.

"They've been at your bedside every day since you arrived, worried sick," she said. "They only left a little while ago to catch a couple hours of sleep. You have no idea how much weight will be lifted from their shoulders."

Artemis nodded slightly. The nurse took the hint, propped him up into a sitting position, placed a glass of water on the table, and left him alone.

It took only a few minutes for Butler to burst through the door.

Instantly, the bodyguard froze, eyeing his charge disbelievingly, and Artemis did the same, searching for indications of massive puncture wounds or slashes across the chest. Save for dark, deep circles under his eyes, Butler looked as healthy as he ever had — healthier, even.

"Artemis," Butler whispered.

Something broke.

"Domovoi," Artemis choked, straining to holding out his spindly arms. "Oh my God — Domovoi —"

Butler immediately had Artemis in his arms, holding the fragile frame as tightly as he dared, and the boy was sobbing as hard as he had the moment he thought he had last seen his bodyguard. Butler's fingers traced through his charge's hair, over his too-prominent spine, reveling in the fact that this body, this boy, was alive and awake.

"I thought —" Artemis breathed, and gritted his teeth, his spindly fingers wrapping themselves in the fabric of his bodyguard's shirt.

"— that you were dead," Butler finished for him. "I thought that you were never going to wake up."

Artemis looked up at him with emaciated, dichromatic eyes. "I always come back," he said. "You know that."

"I didn't believe it this time."

Artemis let his arms, which were shaking from the strain of moving after a month of stillness, drop, and let his head slump against Butler's chest.

"You died for me again."

Butler nodded slowly. "It's my job."

"It's completely unacceptable," Artemis snapped weakly. "I didn't have a freezer and a convenient fairy to bring you back this time. It was beyond anything I could handle."

"It's true," came a beautifully familiar voice from behind Butler. "He completely fell to pieces. But you knew that already."

Butler turned, bringing Artemis with him, and the genius's stomach dropped to his toes.

"Holly," he croaked.

She smiled slightly, tucking her helmet under her arm, crinkling her face. "Hey, Mud Boy."

She seemed oddly calm, especially in comparison to Butler's entrance as she dumped her helmet on a chair and sidled over to the hospital bed, taking Artemis from Butler and burying her face silently in his chest. Artemis wrapped her unsurely in his arms, glancing at Butler.

"You look..." He halted, unsure of what to say. Holly looked up with a smirk, flicking the strap on the black line crossing her face.

"No. 1 did a phenomenal job knitting me back together, but even he can't put something back that's not there," she said. "Foaly hasn't constructed a robotic eye for me yet."

"She's still a dead good shot," Butler supplied.

"You bet I am," Holly said, letting Artemis lay back on the pillows, and fiddling with the eye patch. "I think I'll keep this for a while. It kind of makes me feel like a badass."

Artemis chuckled. Holly sat on the edge of the bed, taking his IV hand gently. "We've missed you, you idiot."

"I'm hardly an idiot," Artemis said softly, far too exhausted to really put any bite into the words. Holly smiled serenely, just stroking the back of his hand, content to sit there quietly. The corner of Butler's eyes crinkled as he took a seat on a bench someone had brought in long before Artemis had awoken. The bodyguard barely fit onto it.

"No. 1 said that you don't remember anything that happened," Holly murmured after a long silence, breaking the quiet musing. Artemis blinked; he hadn't been thinking of anything but the miracle that all three of their hearts were beating strongly.

"No," he replied. "Nothing. The last thing I remember is Limbo."

Holly and Butler glanced at each other with raised eyebrows, and then looked at Artemis questioningly. His brow creased.

"We didn't go through Limbo," Holly said slowly.

"The last thing I remember is dying, and then I woke up in a shuttle," Butler added. Holly nodded her agreement.

"Is it empty, then?" she asked. "Now that Hybras is no longer there? Is that were you got the power from?"

Artemis smirked, and his companions grinned widely at the motion, relieved to see his personality coming back to the surface.

"It's a very long, very intriguing story," Artemis said, weakly smoothing his sheets in a decidedly businesslike manner. Butler and Holly shifted, waiting on edge, and he gestured with one long hand. "Go on then. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

And so it went.

* * *

Butler collapsed beside her, sending up a neat little cloud of brick dust.

"Lili's dead," he said calmly, as if he had just set down a nice tray of tea and they were having a quaint discussion over biscuits.

Holly slumped sideways, letting her head hit his forearm. Her body bent at an awkward angle, her neck cricked, but she was far too tired to care. It seemed that every time she and Butler met up, someone new was dead. It was sad, but it was okay that way, she thought. It kept them from thinking about their bigger grief.

"Any news?"

"None."

"Hm."

Butler looked down at the exhausted elf, wondering in passing whether or not the dried blood smeared across her cheekbone was hers.

"We lived," he said shortly. "So he must have."

"Yeah."

This was how all their conversations had gone for the past three days.

A shuffle sounded at the end of the alley of rubble. Instantly, the two soldiers were alert. Holly's finger twitched at the trigger of her Softnose, but it relaxed immediately when No. 1 came slouching into view. Butler, however, was not so quick to trust.

"Who made the crux mistake at the fifth divisor of the fourteenth battle of Demon Run?" he asked sharply.

"Hi, hello, greetings, always good to see you, please don't shoot me," No. 1 said glumly, flopping down next to Holly. "And it was Wixor the Womanly. Been reading up on your demon history?"

"Artemis went through a phase," Butler grunted. "How do you feel?"

"Drained, enervated, zonked, pooped," No. 1 groaned. "And depressed."

"Wixor the Womanly?" Holly asked darkly, inspecting a new dent on her boots. "Why, because he was dainty?"

"No, because he had a rare genetic condition that left him in the unfortunate possession of breasts, the poor bloke."

"Ooh," Holly replied. "Poor bloke indeed."

They sat without talking for a long while, listening to the eerie hush that reigned over Haven. The most recent LEP report said that 90% of the once-great city was in ruins, and that 75 percent of its population, including the LEP fighters were out of commission or dead. That had been nearly 12 hours prior to the trio's impromptu gathering. In that time, Haven City had fallen silent; no attacks, no explosions, no deaths, save for the already injured. Nothing.

It scared the survivors more than anything that had come before it had. Officers nervously prowled the streets or curled up in deserted rubbish piles in hopes of a few hours of sleep. Civilians tended to the wounded or huddled together in quiet clusters. Opal made herself scarce.

The quiet always came before the end.

"Do you think he –?"

"Not now, Butler," Holly said stiffly. "Really. I can't — just stop, okay?"

"Foaly's still in intensive care," No. 1 said softly, in a bad attempt to change the subject. "We can't find Cabelline anywhere."

Holly closed her eyes and gave out a low guttural sound that quieted the young demon warlock for a moment. Butler took her hand briefly, squeezing carefully so as not to break her thin bones.

"We're giving up, aren't we?" No. 1 asked with a very small voice. Neither of the adults answered his question until, from somewhere over their heads, a new voice joined the conversation.

"Like hell we are."

As a singular unit, their heads shot up to see a weakly waving hand. Within seconds No. 1 was lifting rubble away and Butler was dragging a very blanched Trouble out of the mess. No. 1 squeaked when the Commander's leg came into clear view.

"Compound fracture," he squeaked. "A break in the skin around a broken bone that lets dirt and bacteria get to the fracture itself —"

"Shut up and heal him, will you?" Holly snarled, popping her canteen open and drizzling water into Trouble's dry mouth. No. 1 hesitated.

"Qwan told me that I wasn't allowed to heal any more people," he said quietly. "That I have to save what's left for the bigger fight."

Butler opened his mouth to reply but Holly's voice lorded over his. "He is your commander," she said darkly. "Shut up and _heal him_."

Skittishly, No. 1 did as he was told, aligning the bone with a wince as Trouble's eyes rolled back in his head, and sending sparks deep into the trauma sight. Infection had set it, and the healing was rough on Trouble's body. It took both Holly and Butler to hold him down as he thrashed on the rubble, and he didn't regain consciousness when it was over.

"You healed the both of us just fine," Butler said gently as No. 1 slumped down, exhausted, his head landing in Holly's lap. "We were far worse than that. What's wrong?"

"He's Trouble," No. 1 whispered. "He's supposed to be invincible." His eyes began to close, and Holly's fingers gently stroked his smooth head.

Then hell arrived abruptly in Haven City.

The sonic boom cracked through the cavern like a gigantic crack of thunder, purple light throwing the shadows into sharp relief. The hair stood up on the back of Holly's neck, and No. 1 gasped like a fish out of water, his eyes flying open.

"She's _here_," he said, sucking in air. "She's in the city, she's — gods, she's so _close_."

Immediately, Holly was in her feet, tucking her Softnose back under her arm and clambering to the top of the rubble pile to try and get a better view. With a growl, she rushed back down, hauling the stricken No. 1 to his feet.

"Any visual?" Butler asked.

"None," Holly said. "I would estimate she's at Police Plaza. Move out, boys."

She made to run past Butler, but he grabbed her arm, hauling her back and planting her directly in front of him. She stared defiantly, eye flashing, demanding a reason for the delay.

"This is it," he said softly, and the intensity of her glare dropped a peg.

"Yeah," she whispered. "It is."

"It's been fantastic, Holly," Butler murmured, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "Are you ready?"

"Let's give her hell." Holly grinned, and took off running.

They made it to the Plaza in a matter of minutes, and there she was, criminally clean and healthy and downright _mad_. The few remaining forces were shooting from behind heaps of rubble, but she threw them aside one by one, like toy soldiers knocked over by a breeze, smiling widely the whole time.

Holly felt rage swell through her. Wordlessly, she exchanged a glance with Butler and they parted ways, sneaking through the labyrinth of ruins. No. 1 kept a straight course, red sparks beginning to crackle through his fingers. He vaulted over a startled LEP officer, a torrent of energy shooting toward Opal, but she turned and, with a casual flick of her hand, deflected it toward a distracted soldier. He was combusted on the spot.

"Little warlock!" Opal squealed, kicking up a foot. "I've been waiting for you!"

No. 1 quickly found Qwan's prone form off to the side, colorless and limp. Despite the crisis directly in front of him, his eyes locked onto his teacher.

"Oh, don't worry about him," Opal ordered, drawing his eyes back to her. "He's dead. Nothing to be done about it." She smiled, baring her incisors. "It was far easier than it should have been."

No. 1 felt a horrid mixture of fury and pain rise through his body before he launched another attack, springing forward and letting loose, red flashing from his hands at a startling rate. For a moment, the pixie looked impressed, but she threw off his efforts with a tinkling, insane giggle before halting his progress altogether.

"You're cute," she sighed, tapping her pouted lower lip with the tip of her manicured finger. "And oh-so passionate. I might keep you around for fun when I get bored, after I'm queen goddess of all things."

No. 1 fought to move forward, his teeth gnashing. Opal grinned widely and opened her mouth for another gibe, but was cut short.

Butler and Holly descended on her together. Had it not been for her heightened senses, Opal wouldn't have stood a chance. As it was, Butler's bullet managed to graze her cheek and Holly's Softnose burst brushed her shoulder before she threw them to the side with the roar.

A ripple passed through the air, wiping all sound away for a brief moment as everything was thrown away from the epicenter. Then Holly slammed into a steel pylon and crumpled to the ground with a booming silence, her eyes rolling back into her head. She laid completely still, her legs twisted almost completely around. Butler managed to hit a concrete wall feet first, his shoulder taking the brunt of his impact as he dropped to the ground. Without so much as a glance at Holly, his gun was aimed once more as No. 1 flailed in the air, trying to get an opening. Opal flicked a single finger and the Sig went flying away into the darkness of the cavern.

Butler charged, and sound came rushing back. It took considerable effort, but the balls of his feet dug into the pavement as he made for the pixie. Her face screwed up as she raised her other hand to stop him, and his muscles locked mid-step, like the air was sealing him into a mold. Enraged, he let out a guttural yell, though his tongue and jaw refused to make it into words. The few able-bodied officers, weaponless, watched on helplessly.

"Let me tell you something," Opal whispered in the silence, her soft tones echoing off of the ruins and the faraway walls of the cavern. "Let me tell you about The Little People That Couldn't."

Every muscle in Butler's body trembled with his effort to shake off her power.

"Once upon a time, there were three little people who thought they were God's gift to the world," she breathed. "All of their little friends were in trouble because their ordinary, stupid little minds couldn't understand that they had been blessed with a beautiful, perfect visionary. So the three little people left their little friends to try and play with God."

Unnoticed by Opal, Holly stirred, her eye sliding blearily open and taking in the scene. No. 1's eyes were locked on her, unable to focus on his nemesis.

"But what the three little people didn't get was that they were destined to lose." Opal's fingers curled along with her lips, her teeth gleaming white in the dusty gloom of the emergency lights. "Because the visionary was smarter than them, and prettier than them, and far more powerful than any of them could imagine. The visionary had no one, wanted no one, and needed no one. She had nothing to lose, whereas the three little people had everything to lose. And so she beat them."

Holly's legs refused to move, but her fingers began to reach for her dented Softnose.

"And slowly, the three little people began to realize their mistakes as they lost themselves piece by piece." Opal let her arms drop, Butler and No. 1 remaining firmly in place, the LEP peppering the surrounding rubble like timid dogs. "First, as their friends and families died, they realized that caring about people was only a weakness. Second, as they lost their homes and battles, they realized that they were not God's gift to the world."

Holly's fingers closed around the trigger and she slowly began to drag the barrel toward her target.

"And third," Opal breathed, her lips widening until she was grinning madly in the middle of what was left of Police Plaza, "they realized that _God does not exist._"

Holly pulled the trigger.

No. 1 gasped, and Opal turned a second too late. Holly's laser caught the left side of her stomach, tearing through the flesh with the smell of sizzling meat. The pixie howled in pain and fury, her defenses breeched, and Butler and No. 1 dropped, released from her hold. Butler sprinted for her, ready to kill her with his bare hands, and No. 1's skin glowed with ever last drop of magic in his body.

Opal screeched, sparks flashing around her wound, and drew in on herself before exploding outward, her arms flinging out, her head flying back and her mouth gaping, her features monstrous as the blast erupted from her body.

The ground around her crumbled, as purple light expanded outward. Ten meters from her, it was encapsulated by a red dome, and No. 1 fell to his knees, hands extended and arms straining. Butler was thrown bodily to the ground by the sheer power that managed to get through No. 1's force field, and skidded until he hit a barrier, along with the rest of the LEP. When the light had expended its energy, it was sucked back into the pixie, who then dropped her arms as the force field flickered and died. She stood panting, her hair a raging mess, and her clothes smoking as No. 1 collapsed, his body giving out. She glared venomously at him before turning to Holly, who had been knocked half-unconscious by the blast.

"Oh, Holly Short," Opal hissed, her voice echoing off the walls. "I had it all planned out. It was going to be beautiful. All of Haven was going to just burst into dust and you had to go and _ruin _it for me. I look forward to torturing you until your body up and kills itself."

She began to languidly walk toward the fallen elf. Butler tried to struggle to his feet, but something was wrong with his legs — his hips refused to cooperate properly, searing when he moved them. Opal forced him down with a flick of her fingers. Holly watched her slow approach, fighting for breath.

"Didn't you listen to what I was saying?" Opal continued, violet magic lacing around her bony fingers. "You've _lost_, Short. You've lost _everything_. It's _over_. There was never hope for you. There was never a chance — there were never any _powers_. So the joke's on you. I'll record the sound of your screaming for my own personal enjoyment when I get bored being empress of the world."

Holly fought to move away, but her muscles seemed to be unwilling to cooperate.

Opal raised her hand, the magic swelling in preparation to make the jump to the elf's body.

Unbidden, a resounding crack sounded through the air, and the hair on the back of the necks of every living being stood on end. Opal whipped around, her eyes wide as blinding blue light filled the Plaza.

A white spot was forming right beside the limp demon warlock, energy zipping around it as it morphed, growing a body and limbs. The nonspecific shape knelt by No. 1, whose eyes cracked open. The being reached out a hand and the warlock met it shakily in the middle.

Sparks flew, energy exploding almost liquidly from the joining, and suddenly the figure was in acute detail.

All of the breath seemed to leave Butler's body as Artemis stood, bringing No. 1 with him. The boy was there, _right there_, but at the same time, he wasn't. His skin was flawless, his hair slicked back, his suit pressed and clean. He had no irises, his eyes a flat, glowing blue to match the shade of his skin, his clothing, everything. Once No. 1 was on his feet Artemis turned to face Opal, his face expressionless. After a moment, the demon warlock and the young god raised their right hands as one.

Opal took a step back, baring her teeth.

A moment of tense silence rang through the city before they struck each other at the same time.

Clear blue met violet in two splattering, messy jets of light, before the violet was swallowed whole. Opal's eyes widened as tendrils of blue began to claw up her own jet of magic, and she screamed, attempting to shake it off. The godly magic sucked her own from her and then hit her body, sending currents through her form until she was engulfed in blue, nothing but a flailing shape.

Her thrashing weakened. Her screams stopped abruptly. Then she stopped moving entirely.

Artemis and No. 1 lowered their hand, the magic flashing back into Artemis's ethereal body. Opal's remains lay eviscerated on the ground, her shredding insides spilling from her torso. Blood had burst through every pore, the magical current frying her body from the inside out. In the sudden ringing silence, Opal was left nothing but a pile of biological trash.

Artemis and No. 1 stepped in time to the center of the plaza, raising their arms until a thousand tendrils of blue light threaded from their fingers, spreading over the city. A few touched Butler, sinking into his body and wiping it clean, putting bones back where they belonged, and erasing any sign of pain. Across the way, Holly's eye rolled back as her spine was realigned, the use of her legs returning to her. All around, groans of relief sounded, and fairies began to trickle into the Plaza, shell-shocked.

"Artemis," Holly said, climbing to her feet at the same time Butler did. He astutely ignored her, his bond with No. 1 breaking as he turned to face the demon warlock, kneeling before him wordlessly. A hush fell as the god took the fairy's face in his hands and their foreheads touched.

No. 1 gave a shuddering gasp, his red eyes glowing an eerie blue, before Artemis's eyes closed and he melted into the warlock.

Immediately, Holly and Butler were at No. 1's side, grabbing him, shaking him. Artemis,_ where is Artemis?_

"He's — gone," No. 1 panted, touching his face in awe, his eyes still the same glowing blue. "He gave me his power." He looked up, eyes welling. "He's not anywhere. I can't sense him."

Butler's hand dropped. Holly stared blankly.

"It's over," No. 1 breathed. "She's — it's _over_."

Slowly, the bodyguard and the elf's gazes met, the filth over their skin and the grim tightness of their jaws telling each other everything without them having to say a single word.

_It's over_.

* * *

The silence in the hospital room after the hours of talking was familiar enough to be comfortable. Artemis reclined, his eyes closed, with his two closest friends watching him, drinking in the absolute miracle he was.

"So God's a chick," Holly mused after a while. Artemis's eyes cracked open, and he surveyed her from beneath his eyelashes. "Talk about the ultimate girl power."

His lips flickered upward at the corners. Butler cleared his throat loudly and stood, fighting down a smirk.

"I'm going to talk to the nurses out there about physical therapy to get your muscles back," he said. "And maybe get some food and take a nice, long walk."

Artemis rolled his eyes at the blatant lack of subtlety. Holly snickered. Butler hunched to make it through the door and let it close softly behind him. The pair sat in companionable silence for a while before Holly gave up all pretenses and nudged Artemis to one side of the skinny hospital bed. He verbally objected, but made no move to stop her from burrowing into his side, burying her face in his neck. After she settled, Artemis mentally cursed the blush that rose in his cheeks.

"Holly —" he said, but she stopped him by tapping a finger to his lips.

"I know, Artemis," she whispered, her breath tickling his skin. "I know. Just let me have this."

And so he did.

When Butler returned two hours later, the elf and the human were entwined on the thin hospital bed, sleeping more peacefully than they had in a long, long while.


	16. Chapter 16

**This is the final chapter. I contemplated writing an epilogue but nothing really came to me. I feel like this leaves the end of the story open, but with enough closure to satisfy. It's truly been a journey from the start to finish of Imperium. Thanks for sticking with me through all of it.**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen**

The first steps were an accomplishment, and the first lap around the hospital floor a veritable miracle. Muscle therapy left Artemis in a constant state of exhaustion, and there were days that Butler felt useless sitting by the wayside as his charge gritted his teeth in pain and soaked his clothing in sweat just trying to stand up straight. Holly oversaw every electrical stimulation procedure, watching over the physical therapist's shoulder like a hawk, and often calling in No. 1 to see if he could help accelerate the rebuilding of Artemis's muscles.

In a way, it was peaceful.

It was three weeks before Artemis was handed a cane, given a stern lecture on the importance of continuing his therapy, and cleared to go home. He insisted walking on his own to the LEP van waiting at the curb (the only vehicle they had access to that would fit Butler), but was so wiped by the short journey that he allowed Butler to take his arm on their way to the shuttle.

Holly waited for them by a private Tara-bound shuttle, chatting up a few Atlantis rookies who were staring in awe at her eye patch and, when they thought she wasn't looking, some of her lower attributes. All it took was a scowl from Artemis followed by a scowl from Butler to scare them away.

Holly rolled her eye, whistling slightly as she waved her gloved hand in front of the door, unlocking the craft. "Can't you two ever be nice?"

"Not when a bunch of imbeciles are unsubtly using their eyes to undress my —"

Holly raised an eyebrow.

"Er, you," Artemis amended, pink rushing to his cheeks.

Holly raised her other eyebrow to match.

"I was going to say my best friend," Artemis grumbled before grouchily thrusting his cane toward the door. "Is anyone going to help me in?"

"Whatever you say, Arty," Holly sighed, hopping up into the shuttle with ease and holding out a hand. Artemis eyed it dubiously and huffed, turning to his bodyguard with a scowl. Butler grinned and lifted the disgruntled genius up by his armpits to stand in the craft.

It was a quiet ride to the surface. Butler managed to convince the Major to take the bends in the tunnels at a fairly reasonable speed, but other than a few short quips, they just stayed silent and soaked up each others' presence. They only drew a few stares at Tara — after all, Artemis Fowl was no longer considered a threat among most, but a hero.

Holly let him get his bearings on the ground before she threw her arms around his waist and squeezed so tightly that he began to wheeze. After a moment, Butler sank to his knees and pulled them both into a great bear hug. Holly punched the bodyguard hard on the shoulder when they broke apart, but barely tapped Artemis in the solar plexus.

"When you're better, I won't be so nice," she told him.

"We'll see each other soon," he replied.

"Gods, I hope so," she said, and took both of their hands, which completely dwarfed hers. "I love you guys."

Artemis offered up a half-smile. Butler swooped down and kissed her forehead. "We love you too," he said on his charge's behalf.

It took a few more hugs, but eventually the Fowl and his Butler walked out of the shuttle station. Artemis looked back until it wavered and disappeared completely, replaced by a few grazing cows, and then turned around, huffing and puffing.

"Oh," Butler breathed. "Shit."

Fully prepared for death via bullet or radioactive volcanic ash or giant flying elephant, Artemis looked up with dread. What he actually saw was much worse.

A very still, very pissed-off Juliet Butler was suited up rather professionally and leaning against the driver door of the Bentley. She spared no eyes for Artemis and stared only at her brother, who had pulled on an excellent poker face.

"You want to explain where the hell you've been before I beat the shit out of you?" she yelled across the field. "Or should I just beat the shit out of you and ask questions later?"

Butler held up a hand for her to wait and kept walking Artemis to the car, holding his elbow as the Fowl heir lowered himself into the backseat.

"Give me a moment," he said softly. Artemis met Juliet's curious, infuriated eyes through the window and grimaced. Butler closed the door and crossed to meet her. They stared at each other for a good minute before Juliet wound back and slammed her fist into Butler's diaphragm. He made no move to protect himself and ended up leaning on the car, clutching his abdomen and swearing colorfully.

"Get in the driver's seat," Juliet said sharply. "I've been driving people around for the past three months. It's your turn."

She collapsed into the passenger seat, putting her feet up on the dashboard and crossing her arms churlishly. Butler caught his breath before taking his place at the wheel and pulling out of Tara. After perhaps five minutes, Juliet placed a hand on his arm and squeezed. He glanced at her and his lips twitched up.

"Uncle would kill you for putting your feet on his dash."

"Yeah, well, he would also kill me for quitting the Academy for a career of rolling around on the floor with skimpily dressed women, so I'm not too worried about it." She turned around, looking Artemis over critically and raising an eyebrow. "Why are you gimping?"

"I'm not _gimping_," Artemis protested.

"You have a _cane_."

"I'm _atrophied!_"

"Loser."

Facing the lush Irish countryside, Butler lost the battle to suppress his smile.

* * *

Artemis's good mood evaporated the moment they entered the grounds, following the twisting drive up to the Manor. Butler pulled the car into the garage and helped his charge out, touching his shoulder gently.

"Do you want me to go first?" he asked softly.

"Together," Artemis whispered, patting a hand over his bodyguard's. Juliet huffed and flung the door into the manor open, strutting through it. Butler offered his arm and Artemis took it, hobbling toward the no-doubt furious Fowl patriarch whose curious voice could be heard wafting through the door.

"Not a word about the fairies," Artemis breathed as Butler helped him up the steps. "To Juliet or my father."

"There's a reason I didn't tell anyone where we were while you were out," Butler murmured. Artemis nodded, and the door creaked as he pushed it farther. The noise within the manor stopped.

"Juliet, someone's here," Artemis Senior breathed from somewhere in the kitchen.

"Yeah, I got that. I told you, I ran an errand this morning."

Artemis Senior turned the corner at the end of the hallway right as Butler closed the door to the garage. Artemis squared his chin, drawing his mouth into a line.

"Good morning, Father," he said stiffly. "I trust that you're doing we—oof!"

Artemis blinked rapidly, coming to terms with the man whose arms were surrounding him, his brain failing to comprehend the ragged breathing in his ear.

"Oh my God," his father breathed, his voice rough. "Oh my _God_, Arty."

_Arty?_

Artemis couldn't help his eyebrows drawing together as his father drew back, running a thumb over his son's cheeks and touching their foreheads together. "God, where have you been?"

"It's...a long story," Artemis said awkwardly.

"I thought you were dead."

"I know."

"You _know?_" Artemis Senior asked, pulling back rapidly and staring at the boy's face under his fingers. "You disappear off the face of the planet and all you can tell me is that you _know?_"

"I didn't think you'd _care_," Artemis said acidly. His father released his face and took a step back.

"You're my son," he said slowly. "Of course I _cared_, Artemis; I love you more than life."

Artemis blinked, leaning heavily on his cane. His father's eyes flicked down, but back up when Artemis gritted his teeth and said "You've despised me ever since she died."

"I — what?" Artemis Senior stepped forward again, his hands hovering in the air over his son's shoulders before settling on his upper arms. "God, is — is _that_ what you thought?"

Artemis's lips went into a thin line.

"You wanted space," his father breathed. "You've always been thoroughly independent and you blame me for what happened to your mother." Artemis's jaw dropped, but his father hurried on. "Which is — it's fine, I just — I wish we had been able to talk —"

"You think I blame _you?"_ Artemis gaped. "That's — _no_ — that's completely incorrect."

Behind him, Butler shifted his weight, but it was already spilling from Artemis's lips. "_I _killed her — it was my mistake, and my fault. If I hadn't — if I had been able to stop it, her heart wouldn't have given out —"

"Artemis, stop — stop what, what are you talking about?"

Artemis gritted his teeth, taking in a long, hissing breath as he fought to keep the turmoil bubbling under the surface of his skin. The arm supporting his body shook, the cane chattering against the floor. Butler took his charges arms gently.

"He needs to sit," he said softly, and Artemis Senior backed away, completely nonplussed by the entire situation. Butler half-carried Artemis to the parlor, where he rested him on a loveseat and took his cane. Artemis Senior followed and sat hesitantly beside his child.

"When I disappeared four years ago, Butler gave you a very long and very detailed recount of something that you and Mother dismissed as lunacy," Artemis said after a shaky breath. "Your actions were understandable, but Butler isn't altered in the slightest. It's all true."

Artemis Senior's eyebrows drew together, but Artemis raised a hand.

"Please," he said. "Let me speak. And Butler, I would appreciate some tea; this is going to take quite some time."

* * *

When Artemis finished, the parlor had grown dark. His father was pale in the twilight of the fireplace, drawn and silent. Artemis was quite occupied with his long-empty teacup, his thin fingers playing at the edges of the china.

"Why," Artemis Senior asked softly, "could you not have told me this sooner?"

"It is of the utmost importance that they remain a secret," Artemis said firmly. "Until today, Butler, Minerva, and I were the only living humans who knew. I very much wanted to keep it that way."

Artemis Senior looked away, pinching the bridge of his nose. It wasn't until his breath caught that Artemis realized that he was crying.

"I'm so sorry," his father whispered. "The last time I saw you before you — you went off to this Imperium place —"

He paused. They both clearly remembered the fight in the kitchen without having to physically bring up any of the things that had been said.

"I'm sorry," he continued. "For everything, but most especially for what I said. All I could think for the last three months is that those are the last words I said to you. I just..." He swallowed loudly, a half-formed sob breaking free of his chest. "I _love_ you. So much. I always have and I always will. And I'm so _sorry_. I just kept thinking about what I would say to you if I had one more minute before you left —"

He looked up as the weight on the couch shifted, his voice ceasing as Artemis's shoulder touched his. The Fowl heir's hands fluttered ever so slightly, his eyes averted.

"I should —" Artemis bit his lip. "I should like to hug you."

It was an awkward, unfamiliar thing, the two of them wrapping together tightly, but there was an old hurt that drew them closely together, causing their fingers to dig into cloth and their heads to rest in the crooks of necks and shoulders, their eyes closing in the firelight.

"I do too," Artemis whispered after ages had passed. A rumbling, questioning noise came from his father, and Artemis swallowed before he inelegantly, stiltedly, but still very honestly, breathed "I love you."

* * *

"Hey, kiddo."

Artemis's hand froze, the paintbrush halting rudely on the canvas, and turned around to meet the unfamiliar voice with raised eyebrows. Behind him, an aged, slightly chubby elf lounged on his bed, his belly to the comforter, a glass of wine in his hand. His eyes were a little too young for his face, sparkling a bright, clear green.

Artemis stared at him for a moment before he cocked his head, pursing his lips, recognizing a few key features of his face; the cherubic lips, the turned-up nose, the pattern of smile-lines around his eyes.

"Good evening, Cupid," Artemis said, guarded. "How may I be of assistance?"

The god grinned, lazily tracing patterns with his feet in the air. "Well done, Artemis Fowl," he chuckled, his voice a little deeper than Artemis would have expected. "Though I couldn't expect any less from you after seeing your performance in our little puzzle."

Artemis sighed and began to clear the paint from his brush, accepting the fact that he wasn't going to be painting for a while.

"I'm quite tickled by the fact that you recognize me," Cupid giggled, twirling his wine glass. "It's because we look similar, my girly and I, isn't it? Does Holly even know that you're aware of her heritage?"

Artemis shrugged, drying his brush. "I believe I mentioned it once but she's most likely forgotten, as it goes with most of the things I say. Though I have known for quite some time," he said. "It was interesting to read about, at least. Proof that gods had, indeed, mated with mortals."

Cupid waggled his eyebrows. "Yes, we most certainly did. I was a little more renowned for it, though. Got me in trouble, on occasion."

Artemis settled in his desk chair, threading his fingers together and contemplating the god with narrowed eyes. Cupid flashed him a white-toothed grin.

"Why are you here?" Artemis asked quietly after a while.

Cupid gently set his wine on Artemis's bedside table, rolling around until he was sitting on the bed. "I thought you'd never ask," he said with a bright, slightly grating smile. "I'm here to talk about my great-granddaughter."

Artemis rolled his eyes, and Cupid scowled.

"Don't give me attitude, young man," he said disapprovingly, waggling a finger. "I'm more powerful than you know."

"You're wondering why I rejected her advances in Imperium," Artemis said in a monotone.

Cupid sighed. "Stop deducing, you're spoiling my fun," he pouted. "Yes, that's why I'm here."

Artemis crossed his arms, staring the god straight in the sparkling eyes. "Haven't I already talked to you? You are just one huge, powerful, omnipotent being who takes different forms, aren't you?"

Cupid scowled, miffed that the subject had been changed, but snatched up his wine and let Artemis question him. "Yes, you talked to _the_ God," he said, sighing dramatically. "But I'm only a piece of her. She may be everything, but she's a jigsaw of beings brought into belief by billions of minds dreaming up metaphysical beings to explain occurrences. I was dreamt up to explain why humans felt the incessant need to shag each other like animals. Which is what I suppose you are. Very large, intelligent animals."

Artemis glared.

"But I digress," Cupid said with a grin. "Because of human desire, my lovely arrows and I were thought up — well, technically, _Eros_ was thought up, but he's just a little bit of a bitch and I don't like to talk about him — and I became something between reality and dreams. Though I'll admit, the baby-with-a-bow-and-arrow thing got old _really_ fast. So I grew up a little." He giggled, and sipped his wine.

"So at what point were you able to become human or fairy enough to mate with mortals?" Artemis asked, leaning back in his chair. Cupid tapped his bottom lip, contemplating.

"Oh...3,000 years ago?" he guessed, and shrugged dismissively. "It's not important. I was one of the last gods to start making babies with the mortals. But I was just the norm, if a little late. Saturn, on the other hand..." Cupid chuckled, remembering. "He got so much flack for the demon warlock incident."

Artemis rubbed his temples, his brow creasing. "How do you all exist in one being?" he asked, irate. "You're irritating just by _yourself_."

"Thank you," Cupid said, and Artemis rolled his eyes again. "But I'm not here to talk about me. I'm here to talk about Y-O-U. So let's chat, Arty."

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?" Cupid pouted, and then grinned wickedly. "My great-granddaughter's allowed to."

A muscle in Artemis's temple started to twitch.

"Ooh, you're getting testy," Cupid said, delighted. "You lied to her again, didn't you?"

"I refuse to speak about this with you."

"'Of course I love you,'" Cupid quoted, his attempt to imitate Artemis's voice much too shrill and unpleasant. "'You're my best friend.'" The god rolled his eyes. "Can someone say dwarf shit?"

Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes to keep from losing his temper.

"So she's an elf," Cupid said. "And you're a human."

"Yes."

"So what? I'm a god and Holly's great-grandma was hot, but still a different species."

Artemis slowly opened his eyes, raising his gaze to the god on his bed. "What are you trying to say?" he asked.

"That you can have her if you want her," Cupid said simply. "And I know you do."

Artemis sighed and swiveled on his chair to face the huge windows dominating the opposite side of his room. "It's not that easy," he said. "I'm not like you, Cupid. And I'm not ready."

"To let go of something you're never going to get back?"

Artemis didn't answer.

"You've got as long as you want to live," Cupid said softly. "What's holding you back?"

"I don't have as long as I want," Artemis murmured. "At the very most, I've got eighty years left. She's got up to 2,000."

"Oh, did I not mention that part?" Cupid asked brightly. "You beat Imperium, didn't you? So you've got the power of God."

Artemis swiveled his chair back around, narrowing his eyes. "I asked for No. 1 to receive that power when I thought I was dead," he said suspiciously.

"And the little warlock got the firepower to get rid of that silly little pixie," Cupid said. "But he didn't win. He didn't beat the place. And he really didn't need anything but what it took to knock that pixie out of the running. So he didn't get the real reward of having the power of God."

Artemis stared.

"You're immortal, kid," Cupid said. "You can live for as long as you want."

"I beg your pardon?" Artemis asked dumbly, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the arms of the chair.

Cupid rolled his eyes. "Frond, did getting that power make you an idiot? How do you think Jesus did it?"

Artemis blinked.

"Oh come _on,_" Cupid groaned. "Did she not tell you _anything_?"

Artemis rubbed his temples, fighting a headache. "You're telling me that Jesus Christ was immortal."

"Duh," Cupid said. "The only other person to ever make it through Imperium. How do you think he did all those 'miracles' and the fancy rise-from-the-dead-and-ascend-into-heaven?"

"I think I'm losing my mind," Artemis moaned, and dropped his head into his hands. He made no sign of moving any time soon.

"Knock yourself out," Cupid said, and downed the rest of his wine. "Nice mindfu — I mean, nice talk, kiddo. It's been fun, but I've got a meeting with a nice little dame on the other side of the earth, so I'll talk to you some other time."

Artemis looked up, but the god was gone, leaving only a splotchy purple stain on his fluffy white comforter.

* * *

The miserable mornings of standing knee-deep in snow were long gone, but Artemis was poised on top of the great hill regardless, looking past the headstone and out over the fall-tinted Irish countryside. With one hand in the pocket of his light coat, he used the other to tap out a slow rhythm on his leg, his mind reeling with a slow piece of somber music that he was composing on the spot.

"Butler said I'd find you here."

He didn't have to turn; he knew who it was before they had even spoken. One does not save the life of someone countless times and have that favor be constantly returned without recognizing their presence from nothing.

"Yes," he said softly, keeping his eyes on the horizon. "How are you, Holly?"

The major slipped off her helmet, staring at the headstone while Artemis continued to look out over Ireland. "Lonely," she said. "We're heroes back home, but, but with you two gone, all it's done is alienate me."

Artemis frowned, disapproving. "No. 1 is a hero as well, is he not? Certainly he's alienated as well."

"Yeah, but he's _weird_," Holly said, laughing and elbowing her friend lightly. "He's always been a little alienated."

Artemis shrugged. "I'm not…_weird_. I am still quite alienated."

Holly gave him a withering look, tucking her helmet under her arm and sticking out her hip with the perfect dash of sass. "Really, Arty?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "You're not weird?"

He scoffed; she slid off her wings and carelessly dumped them onto the ground (because Foaly insisted that this pair really was indestructible. Really).

She smirked as something cracked. Artemis winced for the poor, innocent piece of technology.

"Oops," Holly said, trying and failing to look remorseful as she stared straight into her helmet camera. "Foaly, you said this pair was absolutely, _positively_ invincible and that this time you _definitely weren't kidding_. Guess I'll have to stay aboveground for a while."

"You know," Artemis muttered, "humans may be a little behind fairies but we have this amazing things called cars that can get you to Tara quite easily."

"Hush, you."

Artemis jumped nearly a foot in the air as Foaly remote-activated the speakers, bellowing into his microphone from his brand new, sparkling Ops Booth.

"D'ARVIT, HOLLY, YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE, YOU DWARF SNIFFING —"

Holly silenced the speakers. Within a second, Foaly had them back on.

"—AND IT'S A FLUKE, THIS PAIR REALLY IS INVINCIBLE —"

The elf grimaced and handed the helmet to Artemis, who handled it gingerly as Foaly's voice berated his eardrums until he managed to get into the inner workings and disconnect the speakers. His ears were left ringing in the silence.

Holly flopped onto the ground, spreading out on the grass. "Sorry I didn't call ahead."

Artemis sat carefully beside her, his hands stuffed back in his coat pockets. "I can't say I mind," he said. "I expected you to visit soon anyway."

She rolled her eyes. "Look, Mud Boy," she said roughly. "I know we haven't seen each other in more than six months, but _please_, just get over here and give me a damn hug."

Artemis sighed heavily, drew his hands out of his pockets, and embraced the little body in front of him, and started choking as Holly's hug tried to end his life. When she let go, he was wheezing.

"Honestly," Artemis scowled, gingerly rubbing at his ribs. "Do our hugs always have to be a contest of strength?"

Holly grinned, stretching up and roughly ruffling his hair. Artemis's scowl deepened as he attempted to pat it back down. "Yes," she answered. "Because I'm a badass."

"Speaking of your apparent badassery —"

"Hold on," Holly said, her hand raising and effectively silencing her companion. "Did you just actually say 'badassery?'"

"Yes, well —"

"Gods, I'm such a good influence on you."

Artemis rolled his eyes, reaching forward and snapping the strap of her eyepatch. "Are you ever going to go with the robotic eye?"

She shrugged. "Eventually, when Foaly gets a single spare second, but probably just for work. Depth perception and all that. I kind of like the eyepatch, you know?"

"So do I," he replied. She raised an eyebrow, and it was Artemis's turn to shrug. "Maybe I like seeing my eye there."

Holly raised the other eyebrow.

"Blue goes nicely with your skin," Artemis said defensively.

"No," she said slowly. "I think you're a little bit possessive."

"Of course I'm possessive," he grumbled. "You know me well enough. I am the definition of possessive."

"Artemis —"

"I'm immortal," he blurted.

Holly blinked, leaning back a bit as he looked defiantly out over the countryside. His cheeks pinked in the late-afternoon sun, and she turned so that she was fully facing him.

"Artemis?" she asked softly.

"Your great-grandfather paid me a visit a couple of months ago," he murmured, still not looking her way. "Informed me of a few things I had overlooked."

"You can't trust a single thing Cupid says," Holly informed him cautiously, trying and failing to catch his gaze. "He loves punking people."

"This may have been the one time in his life that he's ever been somewhat serious."

Holly twiddled her thumbs, staying silent until Artemis turned to look at her, his cheeks flaming red and his jaw set.

"Come here," she whispered, and he leaned her way before hesitating.

"I'm not — I'm not ready," he breathed shakily, even as she rose to her knees and took his face in her hands. "My family is still healing, and —"

"That's okay," she murmured. "Just sometime in the next century, Artemis."

"Was that last part sarcasm?"

"Absolutely."

Artemis's breath caught as Holly kissed the corner of his mouth, lingering before ghosting over his lips and staying there.

"When I got stuck in the first task getting into Imperium," she breathed. "And you so nicely accused me of being a hundred-year-old virgin, do you know what really scared me?" She smiled, looking up at him through her eyelashes. "That awesome fantasy I was stuck in involved some good times with a certain genius named Artemis Fowl the Second."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Obviously," he said snottily. "I figured that one out ages ago."

Holly groaned and flung herself backwards, landing with a thump on her back. "Why do I love you?" she moaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "You're so _annoying_."

Artemis chuckled, leaning back on his palms. "Too bad you're going to have to deal with me for the rest of our lives."

She blinked, craning her neck to look up at him. His lips flickered up in a genuine smile.

"You're going to have to wait a little longer," he said softly. "I've got a family up here and I'm just — not prepared, for lack of a better excuse."

"I can wait," Holly said, kicking her feet to the side, landing them in his lap and grinning at his scowl as her dusty boots dirtied his trousers. "I've waited this long, haven't I?"

"Cradle robber."

"Shut it, Mud Boy."

He laughed and lay on his back beside her, looking up at the clouds glowing golden in the sunset. Eventually, Holly's fingers found themselves tangled in his hair, lulling him halfway to sleep.

"She would have been proud of you," she whispered, and his head titled just enough to knock against her side. "I'm proud of you," she added after a moment.

"You do realize that the entirety of the underground population is not going to be exactly gung-ho about this, don't you?"

"Please, they've seen it coming forever. Haven't you read the gossip magazines?"

"I don't lower myself to those standards, thank you."

Holly laughed, and Artemis laughed, and they lay on the top of the hill watching the sunset fade into night as nothing more than two friends so hopelessly wound together by past and future that there was no greater luxury in the world than to just sit and hear each other breathe. In that moment, that was all they were.

And in that fleeting, fragile moment, that was all that they needed to be.

* * *

_Fin._

* * *

**Well, kids. It's been fun. I just read through all of my reviews and got a little mushy feeling inside. I'm so glad that so many of you enjoyed this fic and put in the effort to tell me so (because, really, we're all guilty of being to lazy to review sometimes). This is not the end for me at all. I'll be returning soon with a whole new full-length fic called The Almost Ones. At the very soonest, this will happen in a few weeks or so as I am in a very fast-paced summer college course, working 14 hours a day and getting ready to apply to college — eep!. If you want to keep in touch just shoot me a message or find me on tumblr — if you google Alchemechanist it should show up pretty near the top. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.**

**Thank you ever so much,  
**

**Matt  
**


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